The Road Less Traveled: My Take

by Kayce Stevens Hughlett

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.”

Robert Frost & me

All the difference in the world. Literally. The world.

This past weekend I stood mesmerized in my friends’ guestroom in Vancouver BC, looking at their old school globe. I couldn’t see Seattle or even the United States at the same time I hunted for Bali, Varanasi, and Ethiopia. Those places are on the other side of the world. Literally. The other side. I know that, but hadn’t let the visual enormity of it sink in like this before.

Bali is a small island, tucked in the center of an Indonesian string of pearls, that had I not known it was there, I would have missed it. Staring at the tiny dot in the Robin’s egg blue ocean, I began to think about how I’ve been there in one of the most remote, tiny villages inside that land. I’ve kneeled shoulder-to-shoulder with her people, offering prayers for our neighbors and the world. May you be blessed. May you be well. May you be free from struggle and harm.

Full Moon over Vancouver BCAnd I am reminded that we all struggle, don’t we? Whether in lush family compounds or cinder block houses or homes filled with art and light and love, we struggle. We wake up in the morning and wonder about the humanness and enormity of it all. At least I do.

Was I made for this world or another? Are my ancestors here beside me as I write? Are they in the purple flowers outside my window or in the lone Monarch butterfly flitting across the I-5 traffic in the midday sun?

Are we only made of flesh and bone and DNA? Or does our makeup include butterfly wings and ancestral kisses and cares? Who do we carry with us? Where do life’s borders lay?

A border is an imaginary line, permeable, flexible, sometimes rigid. It is an illusion like the force field surrounding the Amazonian island in the movie Wonder Woman. It is a force, yes… but it can be broken and crossed, just like the path to the road less taken.

The path that says buy a plane ticket, cross a border, love the world. Or pack up the car with pillows and blankets and a pile of food and move across a border, like my daughter did this past weekend.

I am invited to remember in so many realms that love doesn’t have to stop at the borders, at the imagined boundaries between time and space. Even death doesn’t close off relationships. In many cases the time after death (or during separation) can heal relationships that can’t be broached by flesh and blood (at least that’s what I’m experiencing).

We don’t have to be physically present for healing to take place, but we must be present. Aware. Willing and open for healing to occur. Healing happens on this road less traveled. Join me if you dare.

I’m writing a new book. It’s about travel and ancestral ties and healing. It’s working on me while I work on it. I’m following the path, and seeing where it leads. 

How do you see the road less traveled? 

What longs to be seen, healed, visited, or expressed in your world? 

Take a moment and pay attention to what tugs at your heart when you consider these questions. 

I'm writing a new book! It's a travel memoir that covers the road from Oklahoma good girl to risk-taking globetrotter. Mainly, it's a journey toward voice :)  In the meantime, I hope you'll take a peek at BLUE: a novel and As I Lay Pondering: daily invitations to live a transformed life. 

Live it LIVE with my SoulStrolling partner, Sharon Richards and me this summer. Check out our mini-retreats here. 

Comments

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