I have been “home” now for going on a week. It has been an interesting, and entertaining time. I have had two different poems running through my head.

Well, actually one poem, and a song. The poem is “The Road Less Traveled”, by Robert Frost. The song is “The Leader of the Band”, by Dan Fogelberg.

Both speak of the choices we make in our lives.

“I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and Iā€”
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
“My brother’s lives were different for they heard another call
One went to Chicago and the other to St Paul
And I’m in Colorado when I’m not in some hotel
Living out this life I’ve chose and come to know so well”
I don’t live in Colorado, but the lyrics speak to my place in my family. And my Father.
My Dad was a man who could do so many things due to necessity. He worked on his cars, he was a carpenter, a plumber, a business man well respected because of his attention to detail and honesty.
I spent Thanksgiving with my middle brother and sister-in-law. They bought their house in 1975. My brother recently retired and has been renovating the house. Much of it on his own….just like Dad.
My eldest brother and sister-in-law have done the same with their home that they have been in for over 10 years.
When I was younger and married, I thought that I wanted the life my brothers had. Nice houses in nice neighborhoods. And I had the for the most part, but I was never happy. I never felt at home. Until I moved into where I live now.
Affectionately named The Meth Lab because it is a 58 year old trailer that looks every bit of its age. It is situated 4 miles from the Gulf of Mexico. And on days when I can’t get to the Gulf I have a porch to sit on that is lined with spider plants and various succulents. The planes from the Air Force base across the road take off and land punctuating the silence.
And I love it.
We all have roads to travel. We all have choices to make. Not all of us are happy with them. Some of us are. Some of us no longer need to fill that empty hole of need we have all felt.
Some of us have made the choice that had made all the difference.