I'm Emily P. Freeman and welcome to the next right thing. You're listening to episode 103.

This is a podcast all about making decisions. It's also a podcast about making a life.

Sometimes decision-making is a straightforward choice between two things. Those things may be both great things,

both not great things, or maybe one is greater than the other, but the choice is always nuanced, and it's not always as simple as it seems it should be.

But then there are other times where choices are clouded by the personality and demeanor of other people,

where this one thing looks great on the surface, but you know the situation isn't so simple,

and you wonder how to move forward in a situation clouded by interpersonal conflict or relational tension.

If you can relate, listen in.

True story. When I was little, I thought Mr. Rogers was talking directly to me.

I watched his children's program on public television, and at the time, I wouldn't have thought to mention

that I thought he was talking directly to me. I wouldn't have thought to say that anymore

than I would have pointed out that my own mother was talking directly to me whenever she told me it was time for dinner,

because it seemed so obvious, like saying, you know, the sky is blue and I have two feet.

I mean, he was looking me in the eye from my TV. He was asking me questions, and he was teaching me about the world.

Who else would he be talking to?

I simply can't imagine growing up without him and Lady Aparlain, King Friday, and Prince Tuesday.

If my preschool years had a theme song, it would be the almost dissonant rushing tones of the trolley car,

as it traveled from Mr. Rogers living room to the neighborhood of Make Believe.

I recently read on the show's website that the musical director for Mr. Rogers' neighborhood,

Johnny Costa said, children have ears and their people, and they can hear good music as well as anybody else.

So I started right from the beginning playing for them as I would for any adults.

Well, that posture of playing music for children as he would for adults,

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