Paths

I’ve always loved a meandering path. Whether through a garden or the wood, they beckon. They beckon with the unknown. Paths can hold hidden treasures to delight you and difficult patches to challenge you. Some paths become unmanageable and you may have to turn back or stop. Others can lead to places you never imagined you would be.

Well, life is a path. And I have been giving a lot of thought to that path of late. We know but don’t know where life is beckoning us as we follow its meanderings. We make lots of choices that seem to hold the promise of getting us somewhere we recognize, somewhere that holds those little treasures our dreams are made of. But life also has a way of putting difficult patches in our way. Sometimes life even becomes unmanageable and we worry it may not plop us where we imagined we would be.

The thing about life’s path is that it is interconnected with the paths of others, bringing additional hidden treasures and difficult patches. At times simultaneously! The joys and challenges in our life are often from these interconnected paths. The interconnected path becomes our path. When my path criss-crossed with the path of a young man over 40 years ago, our resulting marriage changed my life!

My husband and I enjoyed more than 40 years together. Our paths meandered us all over the place! We found and enjoyed so many of life’s treasures together. We made it through difficult patches too! Patches that challenged us to move out of our comfort zones and grow. A cancer diagnosis challenged my husband about 6 years ago and we faced it and fought back together. But the challenge became unmanageable and his path ended a year ago. And I had to face a path I did not recognize.

Life is a path. We don’t know where it is taking us. But we don’t walk it alone. Sharing a path with my husband for all those years changed me. Sharing my path with family and friends changes me still. I am stronger and braver and better because of the interconnectedness of life’s paths. Every person I’ve shared paths with is a part of me. And although I don’t know where my path is taking me, it beckons with treasures and challenges I’m willing to face. I hope you feel this way too.