I Took the One Less Traveled by…

A hard week for our family…maybe I should clarify…a hard moment. A really publicly visible and awful panic attack in an attempt to get our daughter to a nutritionist. A moment that destroyed my husband and left me grasping for the edge for days. I often wonder if the open wound that is too often re-injured will ever heal or how big the scar might be. And then I am reminded that scars tell a story…

When I was a young girl, I was asked to recite a poem for a class. I chose The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost. I did not choose this poem because it was popular, easy to recite, short…or any other reason a child might choose a poem to memorize for a class assignment. I chose it because there was a familiarity or meaning I did not yet understand, but already appreciated. How could I have possibly known its relevance later in life? A road I often traveled alone, but now as a wife and mother; I travel it for my children…my husband…my oldest daughter who braves a panic disorder. Hoping along the way we continue to find courage and strength while empowering others.

The road less traveled is not a road that any of us just stumble upon during a time of crisis. What I hope we walk away with is the knowledge that all of us travel the road less traveled at some point or points in our life. And take comfort in knowing it is the one that wanted wear…despite we might not always understand or feel comfortable. Finally, a reminder that once down a road we can never go back, but the beauty we choose to see and allow ourselves to experience…I have learned…really does make all the difference. The road not taken might just be your greatest gift. Honor and celebrate it.

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.

By: Robert Frost