Choices determine personal destiny

Loose Ends Susan Nienow

I never thought that my inability to make decisions would affect my life in so many ways. Just yesterday, I stood in front of my closet wondering what I should wear and decided to go for color - that new rose-colored tank top to wear under my white linen blouse.

As I made a sweep through the bedroom, turning off lights and unplugging my curling iron, I reached into the closet for my white blouse, and it wasn't there. Then I remembered - I had stopped ironing before I got to the blouse. So while my other half was standing in the back hall with the door open, ready to leave, I had to pick out a different outfit and put it on before he noticed how really late I was.

It wasn't until mid-afternoon that I noticed my red earrings didn't really go very well with the melon-colored shirt I was wearing. Since I still had several things to do before going out in the evening, I hadn't planned to go home. So that meant a quick trip into the mall for a look at the cheap earrings - something my other half really didn't understand.

No, I couldn't just take the earrings out and not wear any. I asked him if he would keep running errands if he had mistakenly put on white socks with dark pants. He just looked at me. I thought it was a very good comparison, but I forgot that because men don't care, he can't wear the "wrong" thing.

Last week, I made it a point to write down the time and day of a nature special I didn't want to miss. Since I am famous for not remembering small things, I wrote myself a note and put it on my office chair. That's my inter-office mailbox. My other half started using it for notes because he couldn't find my desk. But I should have put the note on my nose because I forgot to watch it, and now I will never know why the Monarch butterfly likes Mexico.

Spring choices in the garden center determine what I will look at until the first frost, so it is important that I keep my mistakes to a minimum. My other half did ask why I had two patches of orange flowers planted with the pink roses. I told him it wasn't his place to ask, just to help me move them in the fall.

When flowers come in colors as different as blue, orange and maroon, it is hard to narrow the field. Pansies always baffle me. Last fall, I bought two of these and one of those, and they never did get planted in the right place.

I have promised myself that next spring I am going to designate pink areas and orange beds. Then I will only have to worry about height and width. Maybe I will surprise my other half and move the 7-foot tall sunflowers that dwarf the walkway myself.