I am a mom, I am a wife, I am a daughter, I am granddaughter, I am a sister, I am wild, I am shy, I am strong, and I am weak . . . I am so many things, and there are so many things I am not.

I am a Jewish mother of three beautiful children, whom I love with a fierce fire that can not be put into words. I am a wife, and honestly, not such a great one. I use all my patience with my children, and by the end of the day I don’t have much left for making dinner, or doing the laundry. I have strength that has been given to me from G‑d to deal with all that has been dished out to me, but I also often feel week and worn out, and ask a lot of “Why me?”

I believe strongly in choice, and I gather a lot of strength from it. I believe that this world is orchestrated by the Almighty, but that we can choose how to deal with it. I am often asked how I get through the challenges in my life, and it comes down to a simple answer . . . I make a choice. When my Rozie was born with Down Syndrome, I cried, and then I made a choice: as they were wheeling me to recovery, I said I choose not to shed one more sad tear over the way G‑d has made my daughter—and that was the best choice I ever made. I know you’re thinking, “It’s not so easy”; well, it is, and I wish I could give more deep insight into it, but it’s about choosing A or B.

I am often asked how I get through the challenges in my life When I became sick (diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia), I also had a choice. I could cry and become depressed and spend a lot of time in bed, or I could live, really live. I’m not interested in hanging out in bed all day, so the choice was easy.

So, am I a pillar of strength? A righteous woman? No, not in a million years. I am a mom who makes choices all day long, hard and easy choices—and so can you.

What choice will you make today? Are you going to have a hard morning with your kids, or do you choose not to? Are you going to scream at cars in traffic, or choose to let it go?

What choice are you going to make? I made a choice . . . I am not going to let things in my life worry me right now. I am going to bask in the glow of my health, because I feel like a firework! I made the choice.