I’m sure it’s happened to all of us.  We look back and say, “if I only knew then what I know now”.  We ponder over past decisions wishing we had gone left instead of right, chosen one path over the one we took, tried this or avoided that.  All that second guessing.  Truth is each choice we made led us to where we are.  Good, bad or indifferent, here is where we are and worrying about what could have been, serves no useful purpose.  We make decisions with the information at hand, by instinct, through experience, and maybe a touch of desire, but we make them, believing it’s right at the time.  We do the best we can with what we’ve got and with good intentions.

It’s the same thing at Freedom.  We have a great team continuously looking for ways to make things better for our members, our employees, and our community,  We gather data, do research, discuss (sometimes ad nauseum) and then we make the choices we think are in the best interest of all concerned.

As we navigate the final stages of the merger over the next few months, rest assured there are a lot of people working diligently to maximize the benefit while minimizing the impact.   As with any endeavor such as this, there will be challenges but they won’t be the result from a lack of effort on our part.

I think the quote by the poet Robert Burns sums it up. “The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft a-gle” (the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry) which means no matter how much one plans, external factors can disrupt and derail those plans.  It serves as a reminder of life’s unpredictability and the need for flexibility.  It’s not about perfection it’s about progress, and Freedom continues to progress in support of our mission and all those we serve.