Michael: The Well Traveled Path

The curved black bamboo
Serve as a living portal
To the forest path.

Monday, January 18, 2016

Tomorrow will be the one year anniversary of our arriving in Panama. Yesterday we celebrated by running the Quetzal trail. That was the 24th time we ran that trail this year. We do mix it up with a few other trail runs, but we’re not at all bored with the Quetzal and I’d be very happy if we ran it again twice a month in our second year in Panama.

Many people pay homage to Frost’s poetic allusion of taking the less traveled path, but I feel there’s a lot to be experienced from moving across familiar ground.

And I don’t feel it will ever become stagnant or a chore, both the trail and I bring a little something new to the experience every time we meet up. There’s new growth, erosion, conditions, creatures and people out there. It always feels like it’s been a new and cherished experience.

Certain trails, like the Quetzal, have become the church I wish my parents would have taken me to when I was growing up. If they had, I might still be a practicing Catholic today.

I don’t deride Frost’s message. I like new challenges. But familiar trails have their rewards as well and that should be acknowledged and appreciated. It might muddle up the poem a bit, but it would present a deeper and more meaningful image of this strange journey we’re all fortunate to be on.