This past month, there were two weddings in my family. First, my older brother, then my younger sister. Each wedding had its own excitement, charm, and drama. My brother’s was grandiose, my sister’s relaxed. His spanned the week, hers took an afternoon. As much as the two weddings contrasted, they both reminded me of one thing: frozen yogurt.
I know this looks like a blatant promotion, but hear me out. The decisions we make on a daily basis and the ones that shake our worlds are essentially the same: we make a lot of them, and they add up to one final, hopefully beautiful, product. The flower and catering choices influence the taste of the final wedding experience. Do you see what I’m getting at?
In weddings, in yogurt, and in life, noticeable experiences are often a culmination of millions of little choices. (Yes, I take my dessert that seriously.) Now, choosing who I marry is a decision with far greater influence on my overall life, while choosing what I eat for breakfast affects a smaller scale. In both cases, however, it is (mostly) up to me to decide what kind of experience I’ll end up with. Each topping I add, and the order in which I add them, can pull the outcome in new, exciting directions. A Winter wedding… with burgundy bridesmaid dresses; A cup of chocolate soft-serve… with mint. In both cases a new entity that I made.
This all seems a little abstract, and that’s because it is. But it’s important, and kind of fun, to look at all the tiny decisions and go into every event and occurrence. Everything is composite, a creative confluence that takes tons of tiny events and gives us a unique and complete circumstance: the present. I think often about what little things got me where I am, what things brought my brother into his new married life and my sister into hers, and I think about what realities those decisions are going to form for them.
Plus I got them both Suzy Bucks for their wedding gifts…
Yeah, maybe that’s the main reason I started thinking about this stuff.
“The greatest adventure is what lies ahead.
Today and tomorrow are yet to be said.
The chances, the changes are all yours to make.
The mold of your life is in your hands to break.”
J.R.R. Tolkien
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