The Road Not Taken

I often find myself thinking about this quote, which President Thomas S. Monson, prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has used in several of his addresses:

"In Lewis Carroll’s classic Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Alice finds herself coming to a crossroads with two paths before her, each stretching onward but in opposite directions. She is confronted by the Cheshire Cat, of whom she asks, “Which path shall I take?”

The cat answers: “That depends where you want to go. If you do not know where you want to go, it doesn’t really matter which path you take!”"

I feel as though I've always felt fairly certain of where I want to go and, therefore, which path I need to take. And, when I reflect on my life, and the path I have travelled, I think of Robert Frost's poem, The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
and sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, 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 feet 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 travelled by,
and that has made all the difference

I think about my friends from my teenage years, those with whom I felt the deepest connection with, and I can't help but realize how different our lives have become. There is no telling who's life is "better" or "more fulfilling" as we are all on a different journey. But, it is amazing to see how far apart we can become as we each choose a different way to go.

Some people are surprised about the path I have chosen. Some feel that I am wasting my talents spending my time in the home rather than in the work place. But, as I am about to bring another child into this world, my confidence in my path is even more solidified. I was born to be a mother and I know that as my journey comes to an end, I will look back without regret.

The road less travelled by is perfect and beautiful and there's nowhere I would rather be.