Friday, April 18, 2014

P is for Poems and Paths


This month I'm participating in the A to Z blogging challenge and posting every day in April (except Sundays) with the corresponding letter of the day. The theme I chose for this year is 26 Days of Gratitude. I'll be posting about people, places, things, and events in my life I'm grateful for. Today is the letter...








Long before I began writing novels, I wrote poems. As a kid, I wrote every type of poem you could imagine. Lyric, limerick, acrostic, haiku, and ballads (just to name a few). When I was in middle school, I enrolled in a couple writing classes, mostly focusing on poetry. It was in this poetry class at the local community college that I was
introduced to one of my all-time favorite poems....


The Road Not Taken
                     
Photo courtesy of Lisabryne.me

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.


~~Robert Frost



This poem now has important significance to me as it describes a moment in my life when two paths were placed before me and I had to make a choice. After I graduated from high school, I thought I had my life planned out. I would attend a well-known college in Virginia with two of my closest friends, I would be near my bad boy boyfriend, I would major in broadcast journalism....


But another path was placed before me. The opportunity to attend college 2,000 miles away, to leave friends, family, and a boyfriend behind. It was a difficult choice. And after much thought and prayer, I decided to take the path "less traveled". I left my friends, my close-knit family, and my destructive relationship boyfriend behind. It turned out to be the best thing I've ever done in my life. It put me on a new road with a new journey and destination. When I look back, I can only imagine what my life would have been like if I'd chosen the other path. Trust me, it isn't pretty. It would have involved a lot of heartache and too many tears.


I took the road less traveled by, and that, my friends, has made ALL the difference.

31 comments:

  1. Wow. Glad you put the loser behind you. Was it only the college change that ended that relationship? Or had you been wanting to get out of it for some time?

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    1. I thought I was in love. I thought he could change. But I was wrong. Once I was out west I found out things that were going on back home that did it for me. It was a lot easier to "end it" when there were 2,000 miles between us. And the best part, which I didn't mention in my post, is that moving out west led me to find my husband, which has been the greatest blessing of all!

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  2. I love this poem.
    When you decide to follow the less travelled path, it comes with it's challenges, especially from those people who are "set in their thinking"...
    Most people are "normal". They conform to society and have their own standards for living and stick to a way of life. So when somebody ventures out on his own, a lot of them stare in disbelief as they cannot comprehend why you do what you do. Furthermore, they probably wouldn’t ever try it themselves.
    Well done on being so brave! It was the right decision.
    Writer In Transit

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  3. This is such a fantastic post. I am glad you found me in this big, beautiful blogosphere, so that I could find you back! :)

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  4. I really enjoyed reading this poem again - it's been awhile. :) I took a whole class on Robert Frost and his work in college and this is still one of my favorite poems of his.

    Madeline @ The Shellshank Redemption
    Minion, Capt. Alex's Ninja Minion Army
    The 2014 Blogging from A-Z Challenge

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    1. So cool that you took an entire class on Robert Frost! I would have enjoyed that one! :)

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  5. I'm with Madeline- it's been a long time since I read that poem. It was great to reread it, and your story along with it. Both are beautiful :)

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  6. that is one of my favorite poems! I am an odd sort. And I tend to take the road less traveled by in my life's decisions. :)

    Jamie Dement (LadyJai)
    My A to Z
    Caring for My Veteran

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    1. Awesome! Love that you take the road less traveled by! And sometimes too, we have to make our own path...

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  7. I love it! I'm so glad you chose the path you did, because it led us to meeting and becoming virtual friends. Here's to the tough decisions, and the results they bring! (FYI, that's the reason I'm in Florida after NYC--that less traveled road.)

    True Heroes from A to Z

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    1. Me too! Here's to the less traveled road...*raises imaginary glass* Cheers!

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  8. I went to college far away, too. That's how you really figure out who you are, in my book. And how about that, I started out writing poetry too. Novel writing rose out of that sea somehow. :)

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    1. So true! When you're on your own like that--no friends, no family--you can truly "discover" yourself. Worked that way for me, anyways! Very cool that you started out writing poetry too! Hopefully, I'm following in your footsteps and next on my list will be to get an agent...LOL. :)

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  9. It removed you from what could've been an awful life. Great choice!

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    1. Yes! A very awful life. Of course, at the time I didn't see it that way, but looking back, I realize how close I came to making a BIG mistake.

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  10. I love Robert Frost. I rarely like poetry (shameful, I know!).

    You're a smart lady! Bad boys are best left in the past. I used to be an RA and I'd see all kinds of girls with those destructive relationships...so sad. Hooking up with the wrong guy can totally make your future rocky. Go geek! They make the best hubbies :)

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    1. Yes, the wrong guy can totally wreck your future! So glad I realized that before it was too late! And now I have the best husband of all! Go geek or go home! :)

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  11. So that's where the famous saying comes from, so glad you posted that up.

    It's so easy to take the safe path and not strike out for pastures new, but your experience has shown the 'safe' path would have been the worse one in this case. It's good to see where life takes you by taking the road less traveled, sometimes.

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    1. It is sometimes easier to play it safe and take the well-worn road, but sometimes we do need to venture out of our comfort zone to experience something truly remarkable! Thanks for stopping by!

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  12. I went to school for TV broadcast journalism...honestly, the reason I didn't use my degree was that to work in the field, you had to move far away from everyone you love and make $12,000 a year (what starting salary was in 1992--I think it's up to $25,000 or something now). Without being able to move in with my parents, I couldn't afford to live on that...so I went into public relations instead. I don't ever wonder about that other road because I know moving from state to state to move up in my career wouldn't have been something I would have liked.

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  13. Yay...good for you!! I love this poem too...so inspiring!

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