Making the most of it.

My life is full of choices. Wonderful choices. If the first choice doesn't quite work at the moment, there's almost always a second or third or fourth choice that works. I don't lament having to settle for something less than the preferred choice. I savor what I can get. For instance, this weekend my Italian true love and I are headed for a remote country town in northeast Iowa. Spillville. Many of you probably never heard of it. But I did. Though I've never been there. But for a long time I wanted to go. Because that's where the famous Czech composer Antonin Dvorak spent a summer in 1893. He wanted a quiet place. Where he could listen to the birds. And compose music. Which he did. Two chamber works. He also was able to feel and sense America. While enjoying Czech camaraderie. Spillville was largely settled by Czech immigrants. I'm gonna pretend I'm a modern-day Dvorak. Which would please my Czech heritage mother if she was still living. She loved Dvorak's music. My original intent for this weekend was to travel to Spring Green in Wisconsin, where architect Frank Lloyd Wright used to live. He built a famous house there, which my true love and I wanted to visit. She's a devotee of Wright's architectural designs. Also, she teaches English literature. And Spring Green has a theatrical group that performs Shakespeare outdoors every summer. This Saturday, it's Richard III. Unfortunately, we were unable to book overnight accommodations in Spring Green. So we settled for our second choice. With no regrets on my part. Because I love life enough so that it doesn't matter whether I'm in Spring Green or Spillville. I'll make the most of it. No matter what. --Jim Broede