A Road Less Travelled – Reflections

on

As my daughters and I walked through the field, a recently worn path made into the tall grass made the words I was forced to learn as a 7th grader come back to me:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,And sorry I could not travel bothAnd be one traveler, long I stoodAnd looked down one as far as I couldTo where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,And having perhaps the better claimBecause it was grassy and wanted wear,Though as for that the passing thereHad worn them really about the same,

As I recited those words aloud, my girls stopped and looked at me wondering, I’m sure, if I have indeed lost it finally.  I  got this far from the poem – the next stanza always being the one I forget.

And both that morning equally layIn leaves no step had trodden black.Oh, I marked the first for another day!Yet knowing how way leads on to wayI doubted if I should ever come back.

So I skipped it and continued to the end….

I shall be telling this with a sighSomewhere 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. 

“Moe, what does this mean?” Indigo asked.


So we talked about it.  


Risk.
Take chances.
Going out on a limb.
Living life without regret.
Without regret, but with hindsight to admit mistakes and fix them.


The road less travelled.


It is a poem that keeps popping into my head at times.  We have picked a path of the non-traditional marriage – the open one.  We found polyamory unexpectedly.  There have been ups and downs – but, just like a path less travelled, one should expect those bumps – those rocks in the road.  


We navigate through the tall grass – hoping we don’t find something that scares the hell out of us.  Hoping we find flowers and bees and bunnies, and not snakes and fox.


We stumble over the hidden rocks.  And try to figure out how to get around the more larger obstacles.


We laugh at what we find.


We cry when we scrape our knee.


We may sit down in awe of the beauty….


….or because we are lost and wondering why the hell we made this choice.


But it is a choice we made. We didn’t make it without knowing there would be bumps.  We may get angry and frustrated when that’s all we seem to encounter is fallen trees and huge boulders blocking our path.  We may be tempted to blame each other, but in the end – we made the journey together – and it should be finished the same way.  


Because this journey – this road less travelled – was made by me – was made by him.  I wasn’t lured. I wasn’t tempted. I entered into it knowing it was going to be work.


Less travelled it may be.


I have only found only a happy sigh when I tell the story.  The story of love, of pain, of anger, of passion……those are the best kinds to tell….


…..and this less travelled road – has been a good journey of self discovery.

One Comment Add yours

  1. Big Kahuna says:

    Wow – what a wonderfully reflective statement. I too have a marriage some might find less than traditional, yet we too feel blessed.

    Thanks for sharing

What do you think?

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.