ON THE ROAD TO............

 Ain’t it funny……the way one thing leads to another? My recent “Two drifters” post was enough to lead me on to a second installment I called “A lot of world to see.” Now, that same bit of logic has me thinking that “seeing the world” might require a plan, perhaps even a roadmap. 

With that in mind I invite you to join me on yet another blog journey, an imaginative adventure of sorts. Though I have a particular excursion in mind for myself, I hope you are willing to create your own itinerary……one that fits you. 

Let’s begin by taking a moment to consider our life-path in terms of a roadmap. No matter where we are presently located on that map there are dozens of possible routes available to each of us as we move ahead. It seems that every fork in the road we come to offers the promise, or the threat, of its own particular outcome.

We understand, don’t we, that with every day life presents us with new possibilities, new choices to be made….even if we choose to stay on the same road. With that in mind, let’s consider for a moment what was likely a pivotal instant in each of our young lives…….whether or not we realized that at the time.

Imagine, if you will, a return to a day in early May, in what would have been your last year of high school. Remember that heady time……when it felt like you were about to embark on your  long awaited venture into the adulthood……heading off on the road to your “Becoming.”? 

Chances were that never in our young lives had we faced such a consequential set of life choices. Though we may have already decided on our first post-high school step, whether we knew it or not we were living in a moment alive with potential choices.

There we were, setting out on our own personal journey, facing a future full of possibilities. Our youthful roadmap would include so many side roads for us to choose from, each one leading off toward a hazy, perhaps hopeful future. And whether we realized it or not, it would be the choices we made at those crossroads that would dictate our future.

So how did we make those choices? Did we rely on a carefully thought-out plan …….with each possibility checked and double-checked? Or was ours an impulsive “free-at-last” leap into what felt like an adult world? More than that, was it our decisions that carried the day……or was someone else making those choices for us? 

In any case the question remains…….how good was that high-school “choice making” of ours……the path we chose from all the possible options before us? I won’t pretend to speak for you, but looking back I have to say my personal “choice-making skills” were a bit lacking.

To be sure, the path I chose that May, enrolling in college, would lead to my soulmate. I take our sixty-seven years together as vindication of a choice well-made. Yet even with that victory in hand things might have turned out better if I had followed Her advice, instead of relying on my own loosey-goosey life plan.

And what about the years that followed? How often did you and I take time to remember that we were gifted with a new set of life choices each time came to a new fork in our life-journey……when some new choice offered its own set of possibilities and consequences? 

However, no matter how we weigh that time, that was then……that high school May Day and the choices we made then……the ones that eventually  brought to to this time and place. It was those choices that created our past…..the ones made for whatever reasons we had at the time.

But, this is now. Today is a new day, with its own reasons and choices.

With that “this is now” understanding in mind, let’s return for a moment to our roadmap. No matter what our age, the question remains……where are we on that map? What forks in the road lay ahead? Do we have any particular destinations or outcomes in mind……or have we settled into our own familiar rut, running on automatic?

Just before my soulmate left for her “next life” journey she told me, in very blunt terms, that I must find a way to “Carry on” in the face of her absence. In the days since then I have often asked, and continue to ask, “What road should I take, what choices should I make to honor her “Carry on” instructions?

At eighty-seven I live most of my days alone. Though I am blessed with a close and caring family, my days are largely solitary. I won’t say I am “anti-social,” but I am somewhat “unsocial.” For the most part I make myself heard through the cyber megaphones of email and blogging.

Of course the life-path I am walking has changed over time. That’s the way it is for everyone. Yet, having come this far down the road, from time to time I still sense new choices awaiting……hopefully age-appropriate side roads leading to who knows where.

As always, we have made our choices along the way……all sorts of choices……financial, relational, family, career, and health. For those of us who are so inclined our “what-if” daydreams may have us questioning some of those choices. Yet, no matter where our daydreams take us, we will always come face to face with the need to be looking ahead.

I want to believe that even now, this late in the game, I mustn’t give up. The possibility of new experiences, of side roads to follow, remains an option. If you are the sort who believes in a life purpose, it is fair to ask if you have achieved that goal……or do you have further to go?

Every one of us, regardless of our age, or where we are in our life-journey, is aware of at least some of the possibilities awaiting us. We are never too old to wonder which of those destinations fits us best? And if we know that, what roads, what choices, will lead us there?