Every now and then I get a letter from a reader of this blog that stops me in my tracks. This one is from “Besty2,” a woman I’ve corresponded with a bit over the years. I asked her permission to share this with you and she agreed. I hope you find it as inspiring as I do.

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I’m all about living with gratitude and celebrating every little thing. I am grateful to still be alive and living a very active and fulfilling life of CHOICE after nearly moving in with the grim reaper two years ago.

You may remember my story, that I had two heart attacks and emergency open heart surgery with a triple bypass in May 2024. To think that my heart was removed from my chest and laid out on the table, that my heart and lungs were bypassed during surgery, and that my body was jump started to get it going again is still just so amazing and unbelievable to me. 811 days ago. I have CHOSEN to work hard to get healthy again.

Since my two year anniversary of OHS (that’s open heart surgery, if you didn’t know) I have trained for my “comeback” as a dragon boat racer.  Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d be competing on a team in my 70’s. But I made the CHOICE to do just that. May 2026 in San Diego, my team had 6 races that day and brought home a GOLD medal. I didn’t miss a beat. I was so high from my accomplishment (and proving to myself I could still compete at that high level) that I floated around for a week afterwards. Maybe longer. It was a CHOICE to race.

Then I shared a dream with a few of my dragonboat teammates and suddenly 21 of us decided to march in the local town parade for the 4th of July as a paddle flying, marching, drill team. I found myself in charge of it all. Scheduling practices. Calling practices. Leading practices. Creating drill team routines. I had no experience with any of it. It was a truly great & fun experience. 30,000 spectators watched us on parade day. We did it! We had fun doing it. We looked good doing it. And we won a big-ass trophy for Best Choreography!!! It was a CHOICE to be in the parade. The trophy still has me shaking my head in total disbelief.

Then, I CHOSE to have my two granddaughters for a week before school started again. The oldest had a three day volleyball camp nearby. I was packing snacks and lunches, giving motivation pep talks and driving 9 trips to the host college. Meanwhile, the youngest granddaughter and I were exploring foods. We had just found out she’s pre-diabetic (and I’m on the edge of that too) so we found a beautiful salad book. She picked the recipe, she made a grocery list, we did the marketing, then I was her sous chef. She discovered she liked a bunch of new-to-her foods. Being 73 years young myself and keeping up with two teenagers is a bit much for some… but I CHOSE to keep up, set a positive mood and be engaged the whole time. And we created so many wonderful memories!

And to cap off my SUMMER OF CHOICE (that’s what I’m calling it), I took my eldest granddaughter to Seattle. It was her first big trip without her parents and sister. And we CHOSE to have the most fabulous time together. We played pickleball, beach volleyball (her, not me), paddled with a dragon boat team in Seattle, saw Alicia Keyes’ Hell’s Kitchen musical, did the Space Needle, had a beautiful sunset dinner on a yacht with friends, toured the University of Washington, and used every form of transportation (foreign to both of us – from ferry to light rail, double decker bus to monorail, car to airplane), and we ate our way through the culinary greatness of Seattle. It was an epic trip of CHOICE.

Those are the biggie things I’ve done over this Summer. And I don’t want you to think that my life is a bed of roses all the time, so let me balance all that with my CHOICE to do all these things without my husband (but with his blessing). I’m learning to “live” without him. I’m CHOOSING more and more often to leave him behind sitting in his recliner watching television or reading a book. It’s been hard to do. But I’m not done living. It’s a CHOICE. My choice.

I know I have a limited number of Mondays remaining. I’m working hard at keeping myself healthy and fit so I don’t have to slow down. I want my health span to match my life span. That is, I want to live life with fullness and gratitude all the way to the end. It’s my CHOICE.

–Besty2

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Aren’t you struck by her theme of choice (sorry, CHOICE)? We have so much more agency than we tend to think we have. We can leave our partners at home while we travel and take classes, and return home to them full of vitality. We can decide to call an entire season a SUMMER OF CHOICE. We can take on projects that leave us “shaking [our heads] in total disbelief” of what we’ve accomplished. I need to be reminded of this. Are you making choices that reflect what you really want in life? Are you exercising your agency? What are you CHOOSING today?

Thank you to Besty2 for these spirited words of wisdom.