Jack’s Mid-Missouri Memory My Road Not Taken

My Road Not Taken
Robert Frost wrote a poem that was published in 1916 called “A road not taken”, The poem is a look ahead by Frost, and something some of us worry about- that something is the fear of getting older, and finding out we chose the wrong path for our life’s pursuit. I think we can all agree that Frost did not take the wrong road, but can we say that about ourselves? As I look back on the many roads I have taken in my 70 plus years, I know I have second guessed many of them. Should I have chosen the little red haired girl in school instead of the little black haired girl, who broke my heart in the 5th grade. Should I have joined the football team in high school, instead of hovering around the cheerleaders, who eventually broke my heart one at a time too. The only regret I have about choosing the road that led me to join the navy is that I dropped out of high school to do it. I feel that one every time we have a class reunion, which the class of 57 allows me to claim, even though I finished my high schooling with a USAFI course aboard ship. I never wore the cap and gown, and I never walked that isle, but I did have a world of experiences, of which I am proud. There were roads I could have chose after the navy, for instance I always wanted to be a policeman or fireman, but by the time I decided to pursue that dream, and follow that road, the years had caught up with me, and I was no longer qualified. My mother god rest her soul saw me as a book keeper, something I never understood, but mom was impressed by that career path, more than I was. Many times roads not taken are skipped because of people like mom pushing sons or daughters in another direction. As a parent I understand that more than I did all those years ago. I still don’t think I would have been happy pushing numbers around in a ledger, and eventually I believe mom realized that too. I tried a lot of jobs after I left the navy, carpenter, although I have to admit I wasn’t very handy with a hammer, and I have the flat thumbs to prove it. I often wonder what would have happened if I had stayed on the road I took a short walk on as a young man. That road was as a writer, but I did not have the discipline for it at that young age. I always blamed it on the fact that I had to earn a living, but I realize now that is an excuse many people who have failed at something use to make themselves feel better. There are things that make me glad I chose the road I did, and after 50 plus years of marriage to Marlene, three kids, and some wonderful grandkids who make me proud, I have to say if by taking one of those other roads I would not have wound up where I am today, I’m glad I didn’t take them. In case you have never read Robert Frost's poem I have included it for your enjoyment.

Robert Frost (1874–1963).

1. 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.