Choose Your Own Adventure
There’s a worn and weathered wooden ladder in front of you. A dusty spiral staircase made of iron to your right. You can’t explore one option before choosing the next. Neither is the wrong choice. Unless, maybe, it is. Neither will send you on any different a path than you’re already heading. Unless, maybe, it will. There is little skill involved. Just choices, chance, the ability to keep moving forward.
I like metaphors, analogies, allegories, so I choose the ladder simply because it’s headed toward the sky and that, to me, feels hopeful. I’m in no mood to go down. I have no idea where that dusty spiral staircase leads, but I’ve been there before; I’ve been down. I’m tired of “down” in all its various incarnations.
I reach my right hand out to grab the right side of the ladder that appears, from all physical inspections, to be incapable of holding my frame as I attempt to climb it into the sky, up, up, up to where I believe something, or someone, is waiting for me. I lift my left leg onto the first rung, and slowly, steadily, begin to climb.
The ladder creaks under my weight but holds firm, strong, and does not waiver as I refuse to waiver, still concentrating on taking one step at a time, pulling myself up, up, up, until I reach the last rung of the ladder. I hoist myself forward a few final inches, to stand straight, both of my feet planted firmly on the last rung, my hands lightly resting on the splintered tops of the ladder as I crane my head to the right and the left, silently canvassing my new landscape.
In front of me I see a slender red canoe with two wooden oars, one painted green and one painted orange, lapping lazily in a sliver of blue water shimmering gently underneath a crescent moonlight. To the right rests a ruddy-colored path through woods both dark and deep; I can see a faint light from somewhere in the forest, and smell the strong scent of lilacs nearby. I can’t entirely tell what’s to my left, but it appears to be a hill laden with wildflowers of various shapes and lengths, and the drop beyond the apex of slope appears steep, though I think I can just make out a narrow gravel trail leading down the hill into the world beyond.
A few minutes to rest and I know it’s time for me to make another decision. I pause briefly before purposefully striding forward, feeling assured even in my uncertainty.
Now, it’s your turn.
Do you take your chances in the multi-colored canoe, rowing yourself along the shore, or into open water, or simply letting the waves carry you where they will?
Do you hike along the gravel trail that looks dark and uncertain, murky with hope?
Perhaps you choose to walk the wooded path, the one smelling of lilacs and challenges meant to stretch your arms and your toes, and take you to far-away places you were always too busy to dream into existence?
Or, do you climb the nearest tree and see how far you can see, maybe for miles, mentally mapping the surely uncertain terrain before you trod your tired feet in any direction?
You see, none of these is the wrong, or right, answer. Not in this type of story, anyway.
The answer, I think, is to move forward, perpetually. The answer, I think, is to refuse to allow the terrain to shift underneath your feet before you set out on your way, before you begin consciously trekking toward the unrealized adventures you can see swirling, dancing in tufts of fog miles and still miles ahead of where you currently stand, eyes staring down at muddy boots, willing yourself to take that first step.
So, go ahead, choose you own adventure.
I’ll be over here, choosing mine.
Sigh. Your words always move me, Kerri.
I’m proud of you for continually moving forward. Love you.
I love metaphors, analogies, and allegories. This is beautiful. And so are you.
Kerri, did you come up with this? You’re brilliant. And I am glad you keep moving forward, as we all should.
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You are the cutest. I did! indeed come up with this. It’s been living in my brain for a few weeks now, as posts are wont to do before they actually make an appearance on this here site. ;)
I think you’re right. And the real trick is, as you move forward, not to regret the staircase that you didn’t take, not to miss out on enjoying the lilacs because you’re mired in wondering what might have been had you chosen the canoe, and not to beat yourself up for charging up the hill without taking the time to first climb a tree and get the lay of the land.
Beautifully written, by the way. I meant to include that.
[...] (/slash contemplative) post is one that everyone reads but doesn’t say anything about (HOLLA, Kerri!) I thought I best throw something a little more lighthearted up here. What better than some of my [...]
Ahhhgg. Beautifully written, but this made me cry and reevaluate my life at 6 a.m.
Hi. I’m a friend of Angella’s and I followed her twitter link over here. I just wanted to tell you that I loved this.
You are unbelievable, Kerri. I hope you know that ;)
Maybe a bit cliche, but I have been thinking about this poem a lot lately….
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.
– Robert Frost
Also, I hope you keep moving forward up I-5 to Seattle in exactly one month from now! ;)
XOXO
Beautifully said, my dear. I’ve used the ladder climbing analogy a lot myself in the past year and a half.
I have every confidence that you’ll choose exactly the adventure you need right now.
First, this piece moved me when I finally read it. I truly believe you have a gift. And you use it well. :)
Second, good for you for choosing your own adventure. Wherever those paths or streams or ladders take you, it’s sure to be exactly what you need.
I’m rooting for you. Perhaps not so loudly as to be heard over the shouts of your other friends, but I’m there. :)
And now I finally correct the spelling of my email address. Silly me. :)
You are being featured on Five Star Friday!
http://www.fivestarfriday.com/2009/08/five-star-fridays-edition-67.html
A beautiful message, written extraordinarily well. I’m so glad I stopped in to read it.
I’ve been saving up my favorite bloggy blogs to read and so I just got to this post. Yay and sigh and yum. I’m going to just ride the waves.
Bravo Kerri Anne. This is one of the most well-written, elegant posts I’ve ever read. For some reason my google reader has not shown any updates since last July, hence I am just reading this now. Will correct, post haste! xoxo