As the sun sets on another day we move to old Robert Frost and our Road Not Taken. It has always been quite frustrating to me that the dern sun never sets in the same place. Sure, rising in the east and setting in the west is how we think it happens, but I go to the same place and a similar time to take a photo, only to find the opportunity is lost. (In the words of Stephen Kings “Pet Semetary” “No fair”.)
As I mused this rather fun shot among a series of almost 100 pictures I considered those roads we have and have not taken. For me it is rather uplifting in many ways. I could have not married, but I would not have the 3 wonderful children I now have. I could have stayed married, but I would not have known the wonderful happiness I have experienced . I could have not loved, but I would not know how to be loved. I could have taken the easy way in my life, but I would not feel like I lived the way I needed to each day. I could have….you could have. (OK too much? Maybe)
There are always pivot points in our life, and as in the poem we sometimes choose an easy road. The road we know, the road that is well worn, the road we can predict and be comfortable in. I have found that choosing that road is often the way to less. As in the poem choosing the road Not Taken makes all the difference. The hard part is figuring out which road that is, and riding down it.
To put it another way, there is a movie called “Parenthood” that has a part towards the end that tells it all. It goes as follows:
Grandma: You know, when I was nineteen, Grandpa took me on a roller coaster.
Gil: Oh?
Grandma: Up, down, up, down. Oh, what a ride!
Gil: What a great story.
Grandma: I always wanted to go again. You know, it was just so interesting to me that a ride could make me so frightened, so scared, so sick, so excited, and so thrilled all together! Some didn’t like it. They went on the merry-go-round. That just goes around. Nothing. I like the roller coaster. You get more out of it.
We can all do the easy way, but lets have some fun, embrace the fear, move past it and live life.
Tomorrow is another day, and as the sun rises in the morning, it could be the beginning of a new chapter in our life.