Fences Aren’t Made For Straddling

My mother and I used to have this ongoing joke: I’d call her up, tell her about a decision I had to make, and then I’d come to a conclusion. Then, a few days later, I’d have the same conversation with her and advocate for the other option, and decide to go that way. And I used flop back and forth a few times before I finally came to my final decision. And then I’d call her and moan because I didn’t know if I’d made the right decision.



Poor Mama. She never complained or lost patience with me when I did this. I guess she just saw the pattern before it developed and braced herself not to get annoyed with me. And when I sounded so convincing (maybe I only sounded that way to myself), she’d just agree and give whatever input I asked for. This went on throughout high school and most of college, until she made a casual remark to me one day. I was babbling on and on about the difficulty of making a decision when she said, “just decide”. That was it. That’s all she said but it became crystal clear to me that it could be that easy.

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