Tuesday, June 17, 2008

I Wished on a Star



There comes a point in everyone's life where we get the chance to make a wish. I don't mean blow-out-the-candles wish, I mean look into the night sky and pick out the brightest star you see and pretend that for a moment you're five again and know with every fiber of your being that if you wish hard enough on that star, your wish will come true. I had such a moment just recently and when the opportunity presented itself to look out on my balcony and find the brightest ball of spinning gas I could, I conjured up a wish so unlikely, so fantastic, so much a part of my soul that it nearly hurt to let it into the cosmos. I squeezed my eyes closed and let my heart send up a hopeful request. Of course I can't tell you what I wished for because then it wouldn't come true, but I can tell you that as I sit here typing this today...my wish was heard and for some reason is being granted. Maybe I closed my eyes just tight enough, maybe someone or something actually hears these things, maybe it's a fluke, but whatever the scenario I find myself content.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

My Road Less Traveled

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 onto 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 took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference


Robert Frost















Being able to have an embodiment of thoughts already set to words by a better poet than I is a great way to begin a new beginning. I find myself standing in my own yellow wood deciding which path to take in my life. One is safe and familiar and comes highly recommended. It affords me the approval of parents and others who claim to love me and want what's best for me. The other path, the one I've begun to take steps toward is a little less familiar and less recommended. It's still safe and well lit. It doesn't have raggedy trees or hooting owls or the ominous fog that exists in nightmares and B movies, I just can't see where the path leads.

I'm not walking down the path alone, I'm walking hand-in-hand with him. He's held my hand for longer than he realizes, even if only in my heart. As I take the first wobbly steps leading to the next stage of my life I wonder how I will look back at this moment. How will I see the quality of this decision? It will change my life. I have the trust in myself enough to believe in my heart. I also must trust him not to break it.

As I take my untrodden path I do so with excitement, apprehension, and yet a sense of calm I've never experienced. I look forward to the challenges to be overcome and the memories to be made. I look forward to the laughter. I look forward to the growth. I look forward to the positive creative energy that has begun to bubble out of my fingertips. I even look forward to the giant pot-holes in the pathway. Most of all I look forward...for the first time in a long time I look forward. And that has already changed my life.