Traveling the Road Less Taken….. A Tale of Granite State Mindfulness

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;

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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,

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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.

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It is like a new life, the experience of having time without all the demands of so many of the worldly cares that while important

….. in the vast perspective of the cosmos are insignificant when we consider the course of our destiny.

Such has been the last month plus in which the phone stopped ringing, the emails coming and the constant attention to detail with each passing day is quickly becoming a distant memory.

Many long-neglected things are now showered with love and attention….in such a short time they are resuscitating….. empowered with my energy along with the blessing of some Divine Grace.

My Newport house is a Grand Dame receiving a much overdue facelift…..for the last thirty years I’ve never spent more than two days a week there.

It has always been one of my great loves as this gracious structure built more than one hundred twenty-five years ago reflects an age of artful skill and craftsmanship that now only the very privileged can afford to create.

Still more exciting are my neighbors who have seen me more in the last month than in the previous quarter century. They suddenly feel free to come by and stop to chat all the time as in the past I was a man on mission …..lists of many duties done in one day.

Even more enjoyable is running into people I have not seen in ten- fifteen …twenty years.

The day begins at the Community Center for exercise which as my time is my own….could be a hour or if I want one hour and half.

During this morning ritual many new friendships have already emerged …old ones reestablished

Just the other day while on the treadmill a local choir director who last time we spoke was maybe 2005 …..excitedly approach…..

OMG….you are the answer to a pray

…..Our Bishop is coming for a New England Convocation at our church…..we need a lead tenor.

Without the slightest hesitation I said

…Sure – That Sounds Great.

She responded ….”Don’t you need to know the date first?”

No …..I am traveling on the Road Less Taken ..after fifty years of working full time

….Time is no longer my master…..this is my moment be it long or short….let’s have a great time.

My way home that day also follows this new life ethos…….

The State Highway connects to my town from other town where I exercise, which is about ten miles apart.

Most people zoom with increasing intensity through this connector without noticing the gentle rolling hills on both sides of the road

….a wonderous show of New Hampshire nature at its finest.

This highway was built in the 1960’s and remarkably the old road or at least half of it still exists.

The sloping grade of the rolling hills on this old road would never meet the engineering standards of the Feds or the State

So just as you leave the strip mall section of the highway there is a sharp left turn.

In an instant as you turn the corner ….all the hustle and bustle of the world quickly melts away…..you start to ascend this long slow rolling hill that within minutes brings you to straight road bisecting fields beyond fields of hay on this mountain prairie.

The cerulean blue sky opens up in to this vast firmament ….framed by the distant hills on both sides.

Its sensory effect triggers an instant burst of neurotransmitters ….as this union of sun, sky, plain and forest all merge into a most euphoric experience.

What is wonderful…..no one takes this road and there are never any cars to be seen

….so the experience is highly individualized

This to the creative mind is a wonderland ….to muse….to project and to most of all imagine how many souls for how many years traveled this old road.

Lately all I can think about is Robert Frost ….in the early twentieth century as New Hampshire was becoming more developed still immersed in the glories of its exceptional natural beauty.

Ultimately like most things with me ….I have an overwhelming sense of gratitude for the experience

?….everything beautiful is a good a perfect gift from above.

It leads to consider my future responsibilities and the wise use of all this time I now have to renew things that were neglected, to restore other things that need repair and to most importantly to use my privilege to right the many wrongs that need a little nudge to move in the affirmative direction.

Frost was correct as it is good to take that road less travel as it provides the viewer perspective in the silence of their good thoughts, strong beliefs and gentle care to not be so wedded to the world but to the path of their destiny

…the footprint of their time here and the contribution they seek to give in recompense for the many blessings passed to them and now freely given to the next group of travelers on the road forward.

My daily five-mile trek …slowly driven puts all of the noise of the outside world into perspective.

Things which I thought so important no longer even matter.

Frost’s words and wisdom are the soul of that old time Granite State mindset.

Which with each person I reconnect with, new one that I meet

….cast the reflective motivation of what brought me here forty years ago.

If you may ask …did I know this road I travel each day existed.

Yes…of course

…But the cares of world and its many demands made such a detour impossible.

So in reflection …finding the time….taking the road less traveled directs us back to a simpler place and time which was without many of the material things we have today but lost in that exchange is the very things that we need to rediscover in order energize an unsure vision

…that is not lost

….but confused in need of times of silent reflection to regain its sure footing.

Yes…I took one less traveled by….and it has made all the difference. ?

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