Today I wish to take a moment to thank all the brave souls who have put themselves on the front lines of research by taking the emergency approved (not FDA approved) COVID vaccine.  Today I wish to take a moment to thank all of the brave souls who have chosen not to take the vaccine and instead have chosen to play an equally important part in building herd immunity!  To all of you, no matter what choice you made, I want to say thank you.  I can’t imagine how hard making this very personal decision was.  I am sure each of you weighed the pros and cons.  I am sure all of you got all the information you felt YOU needed to make the best possible choice for yourself, for your body, and for your family.  Since I know that none of us are exactly the same, our health is not the same, and our ages are not the same…I know our choices can not be the same.

See how easy that was! No judging.  No guilting.  No shoving my opinion down anyone’s throat.  It is just me, sincerely appreciating each and every one of you and the very tough decisions you have had to make!  Kudos to all of you!  Now if we could all just remember that we each play a very important role on this planet.  There is never going to be a time where we all agree on what roles we should play.  However, we CAN get back to respecting one another’s choices.  I challenge each and every one of you reading this to think about someone you don’t agree with.  I challenge you to allow yourself to imagine them as a wonderful caring loving person just making a choice that is different from yours.  Just allow yourself to see that person not as the “choice they have made” but instead as someone’s mother, father, sister, brother, daughter, son, wife, husband (yes I have said this before).  For just one minute take a moment to imagine that person as someone you love. What the world needs now is a LOT more compassion, a LOT less blame, and a commitment to searching for what we have in common instead of focusing on what our differences are.

Remember the days when it was inappropriate to ask someone things like how much they made for a living, how much they paid for their home, what religion they were, how long they were trying to get pregnant for, etc.  I have to tell you I miss those days.  Maybe we know too much about each other.  People have been making choices that others may not agree with since the beginning of time.  I am sure back in caveman days there was some cavewoman or man going….”LIKE OMG did you see the drawings they put on their cave walls?  Are they nuts!  I would NEVER decorate my cave like that!”  I hope that made you laugh!  God knows we can use a lot more laughter, a lot less judgment, and a whole lot of hugs!

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I wish to dedicate this blog to my mom’s cousin Jack Presti who passed in February 2021of COVID.  Jack was a retired police officer who dedicated 23 years of his life to protecting and serving others.  He left behind a wife, 2 sons, a stepson, a stepdaughter, 2 granddaughters, and a brother.  When I think of brave souls I think of him.