Joy of the Journey

Originally Published May 2020

“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;”

We sometimes behave as if life is about destinations.  Places we will eventually go and stay.  What college?  What branch of the military? What job? What house?  What city?  And I sometimes think that all this planning and working to get to a place, a destination, causes us to miss the here and now.  That is not to say that goals and aspirations for achievement, accomplishment, rest, and enjoyment are bad.  But do we ever miss the joy of the journey because we are so busy getting to the destination?

Life is really about the journey.  It is marked with a series of rest stops along the way, but it is a road trip.  A long, winding, unpredictable, wonderful road trip.  

The first stanza of Robert Frost’s poem, The Road Less Traveled, is one that I often recall at the close of the school year.  It is the poem that reminds us that as one road on our journey comes to an end, we are faced with “two roads,” choices that decide where we will go next.  Sometimes we would prefer not to make a choice, and we long to “be one traveler.”  But the joy of choosing the next path is exciting.

As we prepare to close a school year that took a very unpredictable turn in March, I am encouraged by the choices that we have to move forward on our journey.  We are anxiously watching our graduating seniors choose their next step.  We are planning for the adventures we will encounter in the 20-21 school year.  And we are looking forward to welcoming a new kindergarten class - the Class of 2033!

We have the opportunity to see circumstances as the guideposts that propel us to choose what is next.  We have the opportunity to try and turn back to a path that we wished we had or to boldly face forward to the choices we have now.  I believe that facing forward, looking at our options, and then moving forward is the way that we make the journey joyful - less focused on the destination and more aware of the path in front of us.

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.”

-Robert Frost