Today's musical
recommendation - "Rhapsody in Blue" by George Gershwin Sometimes it's
just nice to listen to a classic
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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
I've read this poem many times and I always come to the same
conclusion about what Frost is trying to convey - life is a series of choices,
with each taking us down different paths and the hardest thing we have to do is
find that path that will yield the greatest adventure and hopefully joy....
I think we all have come to the proverbial fork in the road
that offers us two very different journeys. I've had a couple so far in my life
and looking back think the choices I've made have led to a very fulfilling
life. Of course I have no real way of comparing what has happened against what
might have happened but I do know that several of the choices I made were sure
to see me end up in Ottawa......
When I was leaving university I had an opportunity to attend
Dartmouth for my MBA but since I was going to be the one footing the bill
myself it was sort of a non issue as I wasn't keen on going into debt and I
ended up going to a good school on the west coast that allowed me to work and
attend courses at night. Now if I'd have gone to Dartmouth I would have been
caught up in the whole "Masters of the Universe" saga that swept Wall
Street and could have seen myself seduced by the false God that is money and
that would have kept me from working for a company in Los Angeles that was
Canadian owned and not led me to rethink my life......
Before I went to work for that Canadian company I interviewed
not once but twice with Bankers Trust about positions in the Asset
Securitization Group and turned down two offers as I just couldn't see myself
living on the east coast....little did I know that within 4 years I'd be
shovelling snow in Ottawa.....
I was living with someone and things were good...not great
but good and I knew that wasn't how things should be and this woman had a
friend who was married and felt the same way about her life. Now at this point
I hadn't made any decisions about what I wanted to do about my situation but
sometimes life has a way of doing that for you.......this friend decided that
an affair was what she needed and sensing my own drift felt I was the perfect
candidate......she was stunning, intelligent, and athletic.......and when this
moment presented itself I turned my back on the opportunity......not because
she didn't make my blood rush, my heart pound, or butterflies take flight as
she did all of these things but rather because I knew we would both be but a
temporary relief for one another and we each deserved more than that.....she
wanted freedom to pursue her dreams and I was looking to have a family and
become more settled.......
Her husband found some letters she had written me and confronted
me about the affair.....and was dumbfounded to learn it had never been consummated..........I
learned later that my partner knew about the whole thing and had encouraged her
to act upon her feelings......it was shortly after this that I turned down an opportunity
to work in Las Vegas and had breakfast with the recruiter from that Canadian
company.....and accepted a position that eventually led me to meet my ex and
her daughter.......and that led to me make the decision to secure my Canadian
citizenship and move over 3K miles.......and not once have I ever looked back
and wondered what might have been had I taken any of those other paths when
placed in front of me......
So what paths have you taken and would you change one of them
now if you could?
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