A picture's worth a thousand words...

...but this one leaves me speechless!

Beautiful Love by The Afters

What a beautiful smile...can it stay for awhile?

On this beautiful night, we'll make everything right.

My beautiful love.

Choices and Chess

No matter how many times I looked at the board and traced the place that each opposing piece could move, I was still going to lose either my Knight or my Rook. I could only save one of them. But which one? Once more I ran through all of the moves in my head before I finally made my decision. But was it the right choice? Did it even matter?

I’m learning more and more that a seemingly simple or innocent choice can lead to not so simple or innocent consequences. I didn’t exactly learn that from playing Chess, but from seeing the results of bad decisions made in my life and in the lives of others. There are consequences that can’t be undone. Consequences that hurt more than the people directly involved.

I’ve also realized that just because I don’t think something is a poor decision, other people may. My parents consider tattoos and piercings both bad decisions. However, I don’t. I’ve suffered the consequences of my parent’s disappointment numerous times because we disagree about that issue. There are times when I believe what I’ve done is just fine, but they don’t.

Another thing that I’m realizing, with both chess and choices, is the significance of having someone to “think ahead” with – someone to bounce ideas off of…someone to bring a scattered situation back to reality…someone to laugh at and with you…someone to hear everything being said without judging…someone to spell things out honestly.


“If it scares you to death may that be your lesson…it’s your decision, make it the best one.”
– Relient K



Learning to Live and Love,
andrea

“Loving someone does not simply mean doing things for them; it is much more profound…to love someone is to show to them their beauty, their worth and their importance; it is to understand them.” – Jean Vanier