the road not taken
Scribbled down on January 16th, 2007 by she
Posted in Random Burbling
Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken” suggests that the choices we make can radically change the lives we lead.
I know where my fork in the road lay. When I met my husband in 3rd year university, I was faced with the choice of continuing our relationship as a long distance relationship, or joining him in traveling from base to base – leaving my studies behind. We eloped, I spent my 3rd year in Fredericton while he moved from CFB Gagetown (New Brunswick) to CFB Borden and CFB Kingston (Ontario). I didn’t register for 4th year and walked away from University to follow my husband in his career.
What was the impact? Other than not finishing university until nearly a decade later, I spent years travelling the country, world and working in a field I had never known existed while studying French and History. I have an inkling that my career would be radically different had I continued on the path I’d set out on after leaving high school.
I doubt I would have spent any time in India – which radically modified my outlook in life – had I not begun working for the company I do. And I wouldn’t be working for the company I do had we not been transferred from a base in Ontario to CFB Winnipeg (Manitoba) in 1998.
Would I be married or have children if I’d made different choices? I honestly don’t know. What I do know is that if I could go back and do it all again, I hope I’d have the strength and presence of mind to make the same decision a second time around. My life would have been radically different had I not met my husband when I did but I don’t believe that different automatically equals better.
The past decade has been a bit of a roller coaster ride, but I wouldn’t want to change a thing. As Garth Brooks croons “I could have missed the pain, but I’d of had to miss the dance“.
Did you reach a fork in the road and choose a path that may have changed the course of your life? What do you think the impact of that choice was?
Technorati Tags: Robert Frost, Garth Brooks, choices, marriage, military
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January 16th, 2007 at 10:33 am
Right before I left high school, I wrote a letter to my best friend telling him I wanted to be more to him than just a friend, and I needed to now how he felt before I left the state for the summer. We’ve been married for 6 1/2 years now, and I’ve loved every moment of it. He’s still my best friend, two kids later.
January 16th, 2007 at 10:46 am
What a deep post. And something I’ve often pondered over the years. I seem to be doing a bit more of that lately, as I’m about to head into the last year of my 30s. Perhaps a bit of a mid-life sorta-crisis. But not really, I’m fairly happy with the way thngs have turned out, of course, always room for improvement. 🙂
January 16th, 2007 at 11:51 am
I frequently wonder how life would have turned out had I decided to stay in California for my graduate degree. The choice was to go to Berkeley or go to a big university in upstate NY. I chose the latter. If I had chosen to stay, I would likely still be there. Now I am still in upstate NY, and my life is 100% different. It’s been very rough, but necessary.
January 16th, 2007 at 10:15 pm
That is such a great and true poem. For me, the Road Less traveled symbolizes adulthood and reaping the results of our own choices.
I spent a lot of years studying education. Sometimes I wonder what life would have been like if i pursued guitar and songwriting instead. But everything happens for a reason.
January 16th, 2007 at 10:26 pm
When I was 11, my parents found an advertisement in the paper for the local girls pipe band who were looking for new members. We went and took a look, and as they were willing to train, I took up the challenge and joined. I stayed with that band for 5 years, then joined a co-ed band. My two younger brothers & my mom joined the drum corp. My dad took up the bus driver challenge and my older brother became one of the official bartenders. I stayed with that band for 7 or 8 years when I switched to yet another band. There I met my husband.
We often talk about the times that we were in close proximity to each other and never met. I guess the stars had to be aligned. Hubby is a piper too so we had a friend play the Pipers Waltz for our first dance.
We also often discuss how each of our decisions to play the pipes affected not only our lives but the lives of our families. Two of my nephews also took up the band challenge, one of whom pipes at a grade 2 level and could clean my clock in a heart beat. I love what being involved in the highland and celtic community has given us. If I hadn’t made that one decision, none of my family would probably be celebrating the culture of our ancestors.
By the way, Eula’s birthday is Robbie Burns day. We will toast her with a scotch. I know she would appreciate that. If you need haggis, let us know. I have one in the freezer.
This is a long message. Does it equal 2 minutes?
January 17th, 2007 at 10:33 pm
mcpypr – for you I’ll do 10 minutes on the treadmill.
It’ll be interesting trying to celebrate Rabbie Burns day while in India. I wonder if they have anywhere that serves haggis?
January 17th, 2007 at 10:41 pm
My MIL emailed the following to me, and I’m uploading it as a comment. What can I say, I need the extra exercise 😉
“hi she
you’ll have to get my comments here as i do not have an url
i enjoy reading your blog; i do it as often as i can
i especially enjoyed the comments about choices. i was accepted to 3 school’s of nursing. one in st catharines where i could go and still live in grimsby and commute each day. mum and dad were really encouraging this choice. the other was mcmaster university. mum and dad refused to sign to allow me to get a student loan for university. they were appalled at going 6 thousand dollars in debt when a school of nursing was only 5 hundred dollars; without their consent i could not get a loan. the third choice was women’s college hospital in toronto. i chose toronto. the second week of school a fellow nursing student talked me into going to swim practice with her at ryerson.. . the rest is history
keep blogging and i will keep reading. hopefully your passport will arrive soon. why do they have your passport anyway?”
January 17th, 2007 at 10:42 pm
You don’t actually need a URL to leave a comment – just a name and email address. You can leave the URL field blank and submit anything comments to the peanut gallery you’d like…
I had to send my passport to the consulate to obtain an entrance visa for India. It’s one of the countries you can’t visit without a tourist or (in my case) a business visa. They’ve approved a 2 year multi-entry visa for me, so I can return at will without having to reapply for a new visa.
By this time next week I’ll be on a plane heading to Dehli. I’ll be blogging from India and posting lost of pictures. Plans are already in the works to head to Agra to see the Taj.
May 16th, 2007 at 4:21 pm
Hmmm, changes and choices in life. Well, you as well as anyone know about my university career. I never finished university and have wondered what would have happened if I had stayed. I don’t think that Brian and I would have ever met and married. Where I would be now, who knows. Though I never finished, I am happy with my life. I do wish at times that I could go back to school, as I also wish I could start my own business. Right now my focus is on having a family. That is my dream. Maybe it won’t come true, but who knows.
When I think back about my goal when I started university (which was to go into teaching), I just can’t see myself there. I guess it wasn’t meant to be. Something or someone was helping me in that respect.
Cathy
July 4th, 2007 at 5:32 pm
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