Tuesday, July 31, 2007

The Road Less Traveled... A woven poem

The Road Less Traveled by Robert Frost

I was a fresh faced junior in high school looking towards my future: College. It was an exciting but scary possibility. As I was looking at college, it seemed to me that, at least among my friends, there were only two choices for college: UT or A&M.

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

I didn’t really care for either of those options. I wanted to get away from everyone I knew and start over. I wasn’t really running from anything, I just wanted to leave my comfort zone. I knew in my heart that neither option was for me.

Around that time, I found out about a small school in Louisiana. It had the program I was looking at and seemed like it had everything I wanted: good size- not too big or too small, lots of campus life, and a beautiful campus.

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

During my senior year, everyone asks you the dreaded question. “Where are you going to college?” When I answered Louisiana Tech, I was always met with a blank stare. “I’ve never heard of that one before” was the most common answer.

Also, I sensed a disbelief in their eyes as I told them I was going 300 miles away. My family is extremely important to me and I don’t think they thought I could cut it that far away from them.

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 onto way
I doubted if I should ever come back


My first weekend there was gruesome. School started on the Friday before Labor Day. After classes, everyone, and I do mean everyone, went their own way for the three day weekend. I had just arrived two days before. What good would it do me to go home so soon? I had been told that you needed to stay away from home for a month to really get accustomed to college life. So, during that incredibly long weekend, I read, and organized. I cleaned and organized some more. I wandered the aisles of Wal-Mart buying things I knew I did not need. I came home, watched a movie, and reorganized the same drawer for the fourth time. It was a long weekend, and I had doubts about if I could really go through with this.

I shall be telling this with a sigh,
Somewhere ages and ages hence…


But, days turned to weeks, and I quickly adjusted. I was in a new world with new friends, new realities, and new things to learn. But, I was still me. I grew up and adapted, but at my heart, I was still the same girl I was when I left. Those four years were the best years of my life. It challenged my heart, my mind, my every core belief, but I came out stronger and better for it. I met people that I will treasure all the days of my life and I have more treasured memories than I could have ever imagined.

Two roads diverged in a wood
And I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference.

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