The Familiar Road

I'll walk down this familiar road,

the same one as before

But so much has changed since last time,

it's changed me at the core

I'll walk down four roads a year

Summer, Winter, Fall and Spring

Looking back, I'm scared to see

what this road will bring

I've bourne the snow and rain and heat

I've seen the mighty fall

I've passed the raging rivers and 

I've wondered about it all

But every storm will have an end

A day to every night

And so I'll keep on walking this road

Ready for the fight

I know a year from now I'll walk

this same road once again.

But it'll be a different time

and person walking then

Last fall, I took a Creative Writing class with Mr. S. One of our assignments around this time of year (perhaps a little earlier) was to write three poems. I submitted the one above, and probably thought it was the best of the three. When I wrote it, I had my mind on (what was then) the future. When I wrote it, we all had our little countdown to college. Now, just about a year later, I can read it and...wow...was that last stanza true. Truer than I could have ever guessed when I wrote it.

Maybe it's just the time of year, but I've really been thinking a lot about how different my life is than it was a year ago. Not only with external aspects - people I know, where I am, how I spend my days - but internal as well - who I am as a person, and how I react to the world around me. 

One year ago, my life was so different. I  was so different. The people around me are so different. The beginning of the school year showed me who cares enough to stay in my life, and who will become just a memory.

Every day, I am astounded by the people I encounter. I do my best never to take a single one for granted, and I  feel that I manage this better than ever before. Just yesterday I looked into two sets of eyes - really looked. Every day we see dozens (if not hundreds) of eyes, but how often do we look? Well, I did. I looked deep into these four eyes. Both of them good friends of mine, and both of them people a lot like me.

I don't know how to describe it...but looking into somebody's eyes gives you a deep, total understanding of their very essence. When I looked, I saw eyes full of pain but full of hope. Eyes that betrayed a world of question and knowledge, fear and confidence, darkness and light, but most of all love. 

I saw two people who had taken a very, very long road to get to that moment. A road full of trials and victories, and a road that extended far beyond themselves. I was reminded of something a great priest, Father Stubna, once told me about my Diocesan Youth Council but that also applied to those two distinct moments yesterday. All of history, every moment of time and space, was arranged by God from the beginning to bring us to that precise moment. Even before I was alive, God had it planned so that I would end up in those moments with those people, and learn the things I did. We took the long road to get there, but it was a road that had to be traveled. 

God really knew what He was doing there. I looked into those two friends' eyes yesterday, and I saw a total outpouring of love. Love for their world, love for their friends, love shared. I am fortunate to know them, and I know sharing in that love will change me. God set out that long road so that I could share in their love. Because love transforms. So, if you two are reading this...let me say thank you. I saw you for who you are, and I understand you. I accept you. I love you.

I am thankful, in God's design,

He planned that your path should cross mine