The Road Not Taken

Will and I lived in Kansas City from late 2002 to mid-2005. While there, I worked downtown as a CPA at a public accounting firm - first full-time, later part-time; Will worked as a laser engineer at a government facility; we bought our "dream home" in Olathe; we had our beautiful baby girl; and we attended church at the largest United Methodist church in the United States. 

We are now frequently in the Kansas City area to visit family, and every time we are in the area, I found myself wondering "what if"? What would life be like if we hadn't decided to start over to move to Florida to pursue our PhDs? Would I be working full-time now, still working part-time, or would I be at home full-time? Would I instead have gone back to school in the area to pursue another career? Would Will still be at the same job? Would we have had more children? Would we be living a rich, full life, or would we feel like something was missing? 

For our family, moving to Florida was the single biggest catalyst in our lives today. I often think of the narrative of our life as pre-Florida, during Florida, and after Florida. But I also try to remember that so many other points in my life may also seemingly have been catalysts. What if my family of origin had stayed in Seattle? What if I had not attended K-State for college and had never met Will? What if I had instead stayed as a liberal arts major, or had attended law school? So many seemingly innocuous moments in our life may actually be important junctures. 

The reality is that there is no one path that any of walk down. Our paths fork and branch and dead-end and re-converge all of the time. And our job is just to keep doing the next right thing, for us, at the time. Because if we do, a fulfilling life is just about guaranteed - even if there is a road not taken.