The Road Not Taken

by Robert Frost

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.

I fell in love with this poem when I was young. So when I saw that Elizabeth of Traveling Wine Chick decided on “Choice” for the #MWWC19 theme, I knew I had to share it. If you are not familiar with the Monthly Wine Writing Challenge, it is the brainchild of Jeff at thedrunkencyclist.com to promote more creative wine writing.

Everyday of your life, there are countless choices that you make and every decision leads you down a path that could have changed your life immensely. It is something I do. I don’t know if many people do it, but I can’t imagine not doing it. I sit and think about how one decision led to another. I think about if I hadn’t made that ONE decision, what would I be doing now? To me, it seems the most pivotal point in my life choices traces back to 1990.  I had just graduated from Whittier College in CA.  I have always loved the West Coast.  When I graduated, I didn’t want to come back to New Jersey. I mean really, who would want to leave the constant warm weather and palm trees to head back to humid summers and cold winters?  I was dating someone, who at the time I thought was the ONE and I didn’t want to leave him.  I had joined a “sorority” while in college and made so many friends that I also didn’t want to leave.  I was miserable, in fact, I cried the entire flight home. (oh, what a spectacle I was)
But I had a game plan. I had already gotten a job as a microbiologist, and was saving money. I was choosing the path having perhaps the better claim. I was going to stay in New Jersey for about six months and some of my sorority sisTers (excuse the capital “T” it was drilled into me while pledging Thalians that you always had to use the capital letter when talking about your sisTers, and I still do it to this day) said I could stay with them for free until I got myself settled back in California.  I had my path laid out, UNTIL my grandfather needed quadruple bypass surgery. Learning that made me look down as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth and knew a new path had to be chosen.

It was at that moment that I realized how important family was. My boss at the time was awesome and he understood that I needed to be with my grandfather (I called him Poppy.) See, microorganisms don’t really care about the 9-5.  They are going to grow or not grow and I can analyze them whenever. He allowed me to come and go as I wished, as long as I got my work done. I went to work in the morning and then took a very long lunch that I spent with my Poppy. I would then go back to finish my work. It was in that hospital that I realized that if I was in California, I couldn’t spend this time with one of the most important people in my life and I wasn’t going to be able to live like that. Realizing that [bctt tweet=”Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both, I chose family.“]

Poppy came through the surgery with flying colors, and he is the reason I chose to stay in New Jersey.  Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I decided to break up with my boyfriend from college. That decision lead me down the path that allowed for, just a few months later in a very boring meeting at work, to turn around and meet Mike. (read our story here)

Once Mike and I were married, (by the way, not only did I dance with my father, I had a special dance with my Poppy to “You Decorate my Life” by Kenny Rogers) there were more choices to make. Choices involving where to live and careers. Choices that allowed us to experience wine and fall in love with it.  These decisions all led to our choice to make wine with one of those “Make your own wine” companies.  After seeing what wine we could make with them and knowing that you can’t make good wine from bad grapes, we chose to leave them and  move to a facility in CA. [bctt tweet=”And be one traveler, long I stood“] and understood that making wine was truly what our hearts desired. So we decided to take the leap and become a commercial winery. We chose to Pursue Our Passion and we chose to start with the 2013 Harvest.  

Many times in my life, Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. Thank you Elizabeth for choosing “Choice” and allowing me the opportunity to really ponder how lucky I am to have made the choices I did. 

~Sláinte!