“My hair was over in the grass/ My naked ears heard the day pass.”
These bent-over bushes, usually so tall, look resentful to me: “How can you keep letting this happen?”
“Well,” I respond, “I can’t control the weather.”
And then it occurs to me that I am actually relieved there are still things humans can’t control.
One thing we can control, usually anyway, is our decision making. I often think about how hard it is to make a decision with incomplete information and, when you look back at what you ended up doing, how obvious the choice seems.
Usually I spend two nights in Providence at Suzanne and Erik’s so I can volunteer in a couple Rhode Island ESL classes. But early Monday I had to decide where to spend my blizzard. One report quoted a manageable 2-4 inches. Others said 6-12. I even heard 18 inches was a possibility in places.
Without complete information about the amount of snowfall projected, the time that the blizzard would hit, and the likelihood of classes being canceled, I struggled to decide whether to stay in Providence or go back to Massachusetts.
Another wrinkle: I had promised to take an Eritrean refugee to a parking garage to see if there were any job openings, and I knew that if I left Providence late, I could hit heavy Boston traffic and might have to drive in the dark, which I have been avoiding lately.
In the end, I took The Eritrean student to the garage. The man in charge wasn’t exactly friendly to her, but she was thrilled to have practiced asking for work and to have received a URL for making an online application. She told me she hadn’t had any ideas about how to get started.
A very independent woman, the student insisted on taking the bus home, and I headed north.
As it happened, I was going to be on my own whether in Providence or at home, and today being at home seems so obvious I wonder why I was anxious about making the right choice. At home, my car is sheltered, there’s a greater possibility of someone checking on me, and a reduced likelihood of power failures. (The town has a municipal light plant, and outages are both rare and quickly fixed if they do occur.)
What was your last many-moving-parts decision? Doesn’t it seem obvious to you now?
Bushes to homeowner: “Seriously?”
Suzanne's Mom's Blog 
Most often the decision seems obvious afterwards. I think yours was exactly right.
But I hope your spring is coming soon.
Alas, there is a forecast of snow and rain next Tuesday. But a lot can change in six days, and I’m hoping that March 20 is enough warmer that we only get rain.
I think our most recent decision of that sort was when to schedule Don’s ankle surgery. We decided to wait until April, thinking the snow would be done by then, but I’m not sure that as the right choice–he’s been so eager to get it over with! And we may not even have guessed right about the snow!
Well, it was a logical choice, and it’s still possible the weather will cooperate. But making decisions with imperfect information sure is unnerving!