Monday, May 25th, 2026 – Memorial Day (United States).
Memorial day is a day to remember those who gave their all to protect our country, and afforded us the freedoms we enjoy and may even take for granted. They gave us the opportunity to choose our journey in life; to choose the road we will travel.
It was over twenty years ago when I came to a fork in my life journey.
It started as another frustrating day at work. I had just completed the 100th mundane task from a non-ending conveyor belt of claims to be processed.
Open the paper work, read the application. Are all the correct sections filled out? What conditions are being claimed? Enter the conditions into the computer. Open a new government red rope folder. Punch a hole in the top-center of each document. File them in reverse chronological order. Check the forms giving permission to gather evidence from their providers. Make copies, print envelopes and mail the request letter and permission form to the providers. Record it in the folder…my patience and mind had run thin. Something went wrong and my frustration rose to the red zone. I wanted to punch my monitor and throw my computer out the non-opening window.
I paused, counted to ten, then turned the computer off, grabbed my car keys and personal items. I then went to the big boss, my boss’s boss. With fire in my eyes I calmly said I am done for the day. If I stay any longer we will need to purchase a new computer. I then walked out the door, down the stairs, through the front revolving doors, across the parking lot, and to my car. I got in and drove away.
Where to go? I needed a destination. It was too early to go home. I needed time, space, and a place to think. I drove up Sunnyside Avenue and stopped at Little Mountain Summit pull-out. I locked the car and walked north up the hill and down the trail. I had traveled this trail a number of times for different adventures. This day I walked farther than I had ever gone before. Over the summit of Little Mountain and down the other side. I walked on. Into new territory – I noticed a hill I hadn’t seen before. It was surrounded by thick brush about waist high and the top was bare ground. I searched for a path up the hill. I followed a deer and rabbit trail only to get caught in the brush. I pushed my way through and arrived at the top.
I took in the view and saw Salt Lake City down the canyon, on the horizon. I saw Little Dell Reservoir behind me. I saw the trail I had been walking on continue north, down the mountain, and around another hill where it disappeared. I imagined there were houses along the trail, because I saw houses on the mountain across the way.
Pictures are from Google Earth.
Symbolically I felt like I had arrived at a place of choices. My life was before me and I was at a fork in the road. I had just walked away from my job. I desired to own my own business doing something I enjoyed doing. The hill represented that – a “Field of Dreams”.
Or should I go back to my disheartening mundane job that was real and a bird in my hand? The well traveled trail represented my current life and job. It was well traveled and led to homes, back yards and things that weren’t my dreams. It led to the stereotypical American life, punching the clock and working for someone else. It appeared to have an element of safety to it. If I got back on the trail and followed it, who knows what opportunities would unfold?
Physically, I was on a remote hill of dry grasses and brush – off the trail. Around me was civilization and a logically safe road to follow. I walked around, surveying the angles, slopes and undergrowth that surrounded me. It would take a lot to tame this hill and build something on it. There are no guarantees it would work. Statistically the odds are against me. It was crazy to think that I could make the hill into a destination, a beacon to the world. In my mind – my dreams, ideas, hopes, desires, and logic flung each other around like a wrestling match.
Robert Frost expressed it so eloquently in, “The Road Not Taken”
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;
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,
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 on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
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.
The hill represented the road less traveled. The trail, the other. I stood there wrestling for an hour or more. It was overcast and rain clouds rolled and passed close by. There was no hurry for I had walked away from my job and income! Not certain I would ever go back.
When I left the mountain and was back at my car, I knew I was returning to my life – to choose the road most traveled.
Now, it is twenty+ years later and looking back. The road I chose has been a challenge and anything but safe. It has brought some opportunities, and stability for my family. It has provided a steady income, with insurance, and stability. The price – fitting in, postponing hopes, and dreams – for a steady stable life in which to raise a family. There are no guarantees that the road which appears safe will be safe nor any better than the road less traveled!
Today, I am revisiting my fork in the road. I am choosing to find a hill and to make it a destination – if I build it, will they come?
With this inaugural post I start my journey down the road less traveled. The Personal-Δ-Guide (Personal Delta Guide). Sharing ways to Track (to improve), Achieve (what we are committed to), and Become (our best self).
Personal-Δ-Guide 