Robert Frost ~ The Road Not Taken

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 think about this poem a lot, especially when I am reflecting upon my life and the choices that I have made. I wonder what it would have been like - how different I would be. My dad says that my brother and I have a different drum beat that we walk to... that when the road is easy, we take the hard path... nothing that we do is simple or quick, but usually wrought with pot holes and detours.

I can certainly say my journey to teaching was that way, for sure. And I recognize that founding Trinity wasn't easy either; neither has this past year. It's impossible to say who or where I would be if I had chosen differently. I can think of 5 life-altering moments that changed the course of my life... (aside from accepting Christ, which goes without saying)

1) Staying at Brookstone when I almost failed out. If I had left, I would have not met Josh or Kenil, wouldn't have had the opportunity for their friendship otherwise, because our paths wouldn't have crossed.

2) Choosing Auburn over Alabama. I think this is self-explanatory... along with this decision came the choice to go from Elementary Education to Early Childhood, to Secondary and finally to English... along the way meeting some of my favorite people.

3) Applying for & not getting the 9th grade teaching job at Brookstone the summer after I graduated with my MEd, I interviewed for a position at Brookstone and, as the job had already been promised to another, returned to Veritas to start teaching English. If this fork had been different... Trinity wouldn't exist. My life would be different... I wouldn't know Kelsey, Jeffrey, Eliza, Christi, Ally, Kara, Stephen, Eric, Noah, Skyler, Ana, Brandon, Jacob or any of my former Veritas students - Miles, Susan, Katoree. Incidently, I would have known Jackson, Joel, Austin, Donald, WT etc, because I was their aide first.

4) Every relationship - and by relationship, I mean "boyfriend" - lead me to here.

5) Leaving Veritas at the end of last year to start the amusement park, or Trinity.

I think its so fascinating to look back at our decisions and recognize where we were and where we might have been. And, what's even more neat is to see how God used us in those situations.