Monday, March 08, 2010

Two Roads Diverged in a Wood

Have you ever chosen a path in life and then wondered what your life would have been like if you had taken another route? I think it is natural to be curious and have moments of "what if" that cross your mind.

Wouldn't it be interesting if the path you had once considered, turned out to the be the path you were on, just 10 years later?

That is exactly what my husband is experiencing right now.

When Daniel was in high school, he seriously considered entering the sub-nuke program with the Navy. After much contemplation, he decided he didn't want to commit the time to the Navy and he opted to go to college {where he met me}.

This path led him into civil engineering and a 4-year post-college stint in land development {which came to a screeching halt when the economy and real estate market went bust}.

So one year of unemployment later, he finds himself in a nuke program that is a ridiculously good fit for him. Not only that, after a week of orientation, he realized that he will be working with a lot of ex-Navy guys. So... if he had taken the original Navy path, he might have ended up with this job at TVA anyway. How's that for providence?

I am personally thankful that instead of the navy, he chose to go to college and we had the opportunity to meet. Which led to getting married. And now I get to be a part of his journey.

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
two roads diverged in a wood, and I --
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Word for the Year: Reframe

For fifteen years now, I have been starting my year with intention. Last year I hoped to find contentment in my life, and I believe I did. T...