Two Roads

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both, and been one traveler long I stood, and looked down one as far as I could to where it bent in the undergrowth." --Robert Frost, The Road Less Traveled


Sixth through eighth grade brought with it a teacher who loved to make us do public speaking exercises. One of which was reciting poems in front of the class. She promised that years down the road we would be thanking her because we would remember these epic poems. I vaguely remember any of those poems. A line here or there from a Shakespearean sonnet. I remember a poem about a Tree - I think it was a poem we got to choose our self and it was the shortest one I could find. ("I think I will never see, something as lovely as a Tree.") However, among all we were forced to memorize I remember this, Robert Frost's The Road Less Traveled.


It seems this poem whispers back to me whenever I find myself at a crossroad in life. When I am faced with two roads and wishing fervently that I had hindsight in making my decision. I know the strait and narrow path will never lead me astray, but what if...what if the road less traveled takes me beyond anything I could imagine? Strange that of all the poems, this is the one I remember. One where a decision must be made and looking down the paths laid out ahead there is the road worn and true and there is a road that is grassy and want for wear. I don't want to get to the end of my life wondering what if? What if I would have taken the road less traveled? I know where I'll end up on the road that is worn...everyone ends up there...but what if I take this other road? What then?


Decisions are decisions are decisions. You make the choice, hold firm and know that you must endure the consequences, because unfortunately there is no crystal ball. If only life were so simple. So I sit here looking down the road of my life wondering where the fork splits into my two paths and which path will be want for wear in this journey.


"And I...I took the road less traveled by, and that has made all the difference."