The Road Less Traveled

The Road Not Taken - 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.

This poem by Robert Frost never meant much to me until tonight.  As I sit here and reflect on the last year, I realize that this applies more to me than ever.  A year ago this coming Saturday, I made one of the hardest decisions of my life.  I chose to walk down the road less traveled; the one I had been afraid to do so for along time; the one I knew all along would be right, even though it was so frightening. 

It is amazing at how fear can dictate the decisions that you make. Fear comes in so many shapes and sizes. It wasn't that I was afraid of a person, but I was so afraid of how my decision would not just impact my life, but my childrens' lives as well.  I was equally afraid of the unknown, what would would come, when it would show up, and in what way it would happen. In the last year, I have had to overcome a number of fears and at times fight that urge to run back to what I knew as my life.  I had to learn to not only trust the choices I made, but to trust that I could let others in my life and rely on them as well.  Not one to easily to open up on a very personal level, I think that was just as difficult as moving on was. 

Now as I stand here today, almost one year a changed person, I know without a shadow of a doubt, that path I took was the one that was made for me all along.

Thank you to all those who have stood by me,  loved me and have become my friends.  Without your strength, guidance and support, my boys and I couldn't have done this.  It is true when they say, "A friend is one who believes in you when you have ceased to believe in yourself."  I love you all.