Paths. Pathways. Crossroads. It’s called life and there have been many choices throughout my lifetime.
Robert Frost wrote:
“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 I took the other road…….”
I had left college early after getting married. That marriage only lasted a year and a half. But I had worked steadily in professional theater for eight years including two summers at Utah Shakespeare Festival. My first summer there the company manager would get all us techies together and everyone would pile in his truck, “Molly.” He took us to all the national parks and sites in southern Utah and northern Arizona on Sundays when the theater was dark. My favorite site we visited was Zion National Park. It is an amazing place with its towering red canyon walls and myriad rock formations. It has been called the technicolor Yosemite. I had an ethereal experience when walking up the Virgin River at the beginning of the narrows. The magic of the place was palpable. I could feel the spirits of people who had come before.
From that time on every time I was traveling cross country from Texas to Idaho, or Kansas to Idaho I would travel through Zion. I enjoyed working in numerous theatres but my heart was always in southern Utah.
I decided to return to school in 1986 and continued my studies in theatre. After two years I was nearing graduation. It was January when I got to thinking about what I wanted to do with my future and again I thought of Zion. I called the park and got someone at the front desk. I asked, “How do I get your job?” She said she would send me an application but it was due by January 15. I received the application and immediately mailed it back. And then I waited. And waited. May rolled around and I decided that I would be working again in a summer theater. A theater offered me a position I’d had before. Then one of my professors asked if I would like to join him with a group that was going to Greece. We would be performing Greek plays in the ancient amphitheaters. An amazing opportunity. I was the first student he had asked to join him. What an honor.
When I returned home, I received a phone call from Zion. Was I still interested and would I be able to begin in a week? I asked for a day to think about it.
“…long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth…”
Long I puzzled over my choices. I thought about the opportunity to perform ancient Greek texts in the places where they had been written to be performed in. Then again, I would think about the prospect of working in a place that had my heart.
When would I get the choice like this again, for either opportunity? I looked deep into my heart. I realized the decision was made. The next day I went to my professor and told him of my decision. “You’re going to be a ranger? A park ranger?” he said incredulously. I said I was honored by his offer but my heart was in Zion. I would be working at a place that I had long dreamed about.
“…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 met my second husband that summer. I fought wildfires in the summer of ’88 for over a month. I did living history. I got on permanent the next year. I realized how lucky I was.
I consider “with a sigh” what might have been. How different my life would be today. Choice made all the difference.
