Life is a Series of Choices

Good or bad, our choices in life have a significant impact.

I read the Friday section of This is Where I Leave You on a plane to Delaware. Being avid music lovers, my husband and I decided this year that we would take our “no kids allowed” trip to the Firefly Music Festival in Dover. Upon arrival, we settled into our tent, which would be our home for the next four days of eating, drinking, and listening to great music. Now, before you get hung up on the idea that we decided to live in a tent for our adults only vacation, please understand that the tent was furnished with a queen sized air mattress and air conditioning – Glamping at its finest. Still, we hadn’t chosen our normal vacation, so I had no idea what to expect. Over the course of those four days, we saw 80,000 people make choices – some good and some very ill-advised.

The moment I was thrilled with my choice to live Festival Life for a few days
The moment I was thrilled with my choice to live Festival Life for a few days

In the end, we had an amazing time. We chose adventure, and I’m glad we did. Then at 2pm on Sunday afternoon, we both looked at each other and chose to book a hotel room with a non-community shower. Choices… Thank you Hyatt Rewards Points for making our Sunday afternoon choice just a little bit easier.

A Revealing Start to the Weekend

The choices of these characters and the results of those decisions has been a huge theme throughout this book so far. It’s finally revealed why there’s so much anger from Paul towards Judd. Paul made the choice to take up for his brother which ultimately put them both in harms way. Judd made the choice to not take action as his brother yelled at him to defend himself, which left them open for the attack. Both choices ended Paul’s baseball career.

Jen shows up, and we discover she’s pregnant with Judd’s baby. What a terribly tragic turn in the story considering that we also learned what sent their marriage down the path of disfunction. They lost a baby and although it wasn’t Judd’s fault that he didn’t make it in time to support Jen when she heard the news, she chose to blame him. They both chose not to talk about their feelings and ultimately end up growing apart leading to so many additional bad decisions.

I look at Jen. Jen looks at me. It’s an electric moment, and later on I will wonder if that moment was a last chance blown by two people too tied up in their uncertainty and resentment to seize it.

Another choice. I’m not saying they should have taken advantage of that moment, but I found those three sentences to be the most poignant of the entire book so far. We live or lives with a series of choices to make, and it’s hard to know which direction to turn at times with so many things like pride, history, and fear clouding our judgement.

I like a book that makes me think and although I’ve found myself frustrated at times This is Where I Leave You has definitely made me think. There were many dark moments in these last few chapters, but there was a great deal of lighthearted fun to balance all that out. I loved the interactions among the siblings when they bantered back and forth throwing each other under the bus to take the focus away from themselves. I both cringed and laughed out loud during the baby monitor scene. And of course, Phillip is always there to add humor to each and every situation even though we learned that life might not be the carefree journey he portrays to those around him.

For those of you looking to get caught up, we just finished Friday and will be moving into Saturday next week. What do you think Book Club followers? Are you enjoying the book? Do you have a favorite character? Do the characters in the book make you eager to see the movie when it comes out?

Christie Pettus
Christie Pettus is a full time working wife and mother living her suburban cul de sac dream in Orange Park, Fl. She is Mom to two awesome teenagers, McKenzie and Ethan, who have come to accept that certain parts of their lives will be blogged about, so they should act accordingly. As graduates of the University of Florida, she and her husband Ryan can be found rooting on their alma mater every chance they get including the more obscure sports. LaCrosse anyone? When she’s not judging her kids' questionable teenage choices, she can be found hiding in a room buried in a good book or writing, editing, and dreaming about being a full-time author.

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