Choices
| Publication year | 2021 |
| Pages | 259 |
79 CBJ 259. CHOICES
Vol. 79, No. 4
December 2005
When I agreed to write a paper for today's meeting, it was one more choice that I had made - mistake or not. You're going to hear a lot about my choices and those of others. They may differ from those you would have made, probably because of our differing points of view.
I had been out of college twenty-four years when I decided I wanted my law degree. I wasn't accepted into law school when I first applied and that was someone else's choice. But it was a lucky break for me, as it happened, because I had to have eye surgery that fall and for three months it was almost impossible for me to read. The following year I was accepted and was able to go.
My decision to go to law school was not easy on my family, although I was lucky to have a husband who rooted for me all the way. My older daughter had just started college, so she was off on her own. It was tough on my teenage daughter, just starting junior high school. It was a time, I realized later, when I should have been more accessible - and I'm still paying for that error. Always a rebel, my daughter, Sandra, made life tough for herself and everyone else. I take full responsibility for that because of the choice I had made. What I have learned from that is that, once a choice is made, you have to live with the consequences, no matter how long that may be or how difficult.
But, of course, everyone makes difficult choices, so what's the big deal? My point is that few of us fully understand all the ramifications that a simple decision may cause. I made another choice that I think both my girls liked: Whether to remain in our small Connecticut suburb or return to the New York City area. My husband's business required that he spend half his time in New York City and half in Connecticut. Perhaps it was too easy, but I voted to remain in the suburb where our presence had first raised serious questions. I didn't know it for many years, but someone finally told us that there had been a neighborhood vote on whether we were acceptable before we had moved in. Yes, we were the first Jews to arrive there. The neighbors must have decided that our horns were well hidden because they didn't reject us. In fact, our neighbors were wonderful, welcoming and friendly, successfully hiding any suspicions or doubts they may have had about us. Despite...
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