The 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;	5
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,	10
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.	15
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


Today, we start the road less traveled. Last winter, Kevin and I came to the place where two roads diverged. One road continued on the same path we had chosen last summer (to come together to Virginia), and the other would take us back to Maine living a completely different lifestyle than we had ever lived before. It was weird because we had been in the thick of making such a huge life changing decision for our family and I picked up a book and opened it to this poem. Was it a sign? I don't know, but it was so fitting for the moment.

And as you know, we chose the road less traveled. Less traveled because most people do not live the lifestyle in which we are about to embark. In the military world, it is termed "geo-bachelor" - meaning the husband works in one place, and his family lives in another. We will go from having nightly dinners together to having midweek dinners apart, and missing a few bedtimes, but hoping for the little bit of sacrifice on both ends will pay off greatly in happiness and quality family time for when he is home, which he should be home more than half the time - time at the beach, walks down to the water, family bike rides, dinners on the ocean, laughter filling our backyard, skiing in the winter and all the little things we love that fit in between. Kevin will be able to focus more on his job and hopefully not feel the stress about wanting to be home vs. needing to stay at work late when he is there, and when he crosses the salt marsh at the end of the week, he will feel at home. Hopefully we will continue to feel the great love and support from our family and friends, which I have no doubt we will. It is comforting to know we have so many amazing people in our life. Our kids will have their friends, and so will Kevin and I, and family close-by, too. We will live in the home in which we love, and in a place that truly feels like home. The big girls will start school. And they will be able to do the things they love, too.

While we know this will not be the easiest path, we hope it is the right path that will lead to happiness filled with quality time together. Feeling at home. Feeling at peace. After all, it is temporary and life is too short to be unhappy. It is a short time in the grand scheme of things. And I hope that by taking the road less traveled it will make all the difference...