"It Makes All The Difference"

                                   Robert Frost wrote the poem to which the title of this blog alludes. “Two roads divulged in a yellow wood and sorry I could not travel both…I took the one less traveled by and that made all the difference.” Ever since I read this poem as high school junior, I considered his statement one of self- congratulations and celebration. In recent days, however, I have come to believe it a confession of regret. Frost was a New England Yankee to the core and with that heritage came a fierce independent spirit that fueled the decision to take that lonely road.  Looking back in retrospect, perhaps he saw all that he missed … just perhaps.   When Mom died, I tried to walk alone, I had hidden in the shadows and cried for months before her passing; when the end came I immersed myself in education and tried to go it alone on the less taken road. When Daddy died, I knew I had to choose a different road … acceptance … getting on a more travelled road where there were fellow travelers to aid so that if I stumbled … if my faith faltered, there would be someone there  to be that succor I might so desperately need.  God designed us to live and love in community in happy times and in grief.  And in the words of Robert Frost when we do …”that makes all the difference”