I recently joined a fabulous group of women for a global writing challenge—Gail from Is This Mutton (UK) Deb from Deb’sWorld (Australia), Mary Katherine from MK’s Adventures in Style (USA), Penny from Frugal Fashion Shopper (UK), Australian blogger Sue Loncaric from Women Living Well After 50, Leslie Clingan from Once Upon a Time and Happily Ever After and Marsha from Marsha In The Middle. On the third Thursday of every month we’ll respond to the prompt “Tell Us About XXX” which could cover any subject matter. It could be a blog post with opinions or memories; a poem, photos, anything at all. Last month, the challenge was Celebration and was prompted by Deb. This month, Mary Katherine chose the fabulous prompt of…The Road Not Travelled.
Up until the age of sixteen, I was adamant that, after taking my A’ levels here in Portugal, I would be moving back to England to continue my education at university. I knew that I would be studying psychology and would follow that path in my life. Little did I know at that time, that this would actually be the road not travelled lol!
You see, on my 16th birthday I met a guy. A guy I’d never met before but I knew who he was because we went to the same international school. He was three years older than me. Actually, let me re-phrase that. I didn’t actually meet him on my birthday, but I did find out that he fancied me lol.
It was Boxing Day, and myself and a group of friends were at a club. As usual, I was the first one on the dance floor back then. I was pretty good at dancing so I was happy to be the centre of attention! The song was Fantasy by Black Box (my song at the time) and the dance floor filled with dry ice…my cue lol. So I went up and strutted my stuff. A friend of mine came over to me when I was done and told me his brother’s best friend couldn’t take his eyes off me…he said I was making him go “all hot and cold” LOL! Two days later we met up at another club and we had our first kiss! The guy was Michael and little did I know that he would completely disrupt my plans for the future.
After we’d been together a few months, I knew there was no way I could possibly leave Portugal; leave him. He had become my everything and he would become my future. We married about six years later and we have the most beautiful life here in the Algarve. Occasionally, I think back to how my life would have differed if I’d have taken that road I’d originally planned to go on. Would I have stayed in England? Would I have become a psychologist? Would I have kids?
But whenever I think about it, I never look at it with regret. Not one bit. In fact I’m absolutely certain that I am on the path I was destined to follow.
How about you? What was the road not travelled for you? Let’s find out about the other girls in the group…
For this month’s Tell Us About…..The Road Not Travelled, Sue from Women Living Well After 50, looks at why we should reflect but not regret the road not taken but it’s never too late to change and take new roads and opportunities. http://www.womenlivingwellafter50.com.au
Marsha knows the roads she could have taken at certain points in her life. But, those roads weren’t winding, tree lined, and ending at her happily ever after. The road not travelled could have been all that and more. Does she regret it? Hmmm…you’ll need to click on over to see! https://marshainthemiddle.com/
Penny definitely did not take one road she should have taken, but did go down another road, which was worth the effort, but she still thinks about that missed opportunity. https://frugalfashionshopper.co.uk/
Gail from Is This Mutton took a different view, looking at two roads she was forced to take. How did they turn out? The result is surprising. https//www.isthismutton.com
For this month’s prompt, Leslie is briefly reflecting on what might have been while being cautious not to spend too much time looking back as that is not the direction we’re moving in. https://onceuponatimehappilyeverafter.com/
Debbie misread this prompt and so has gone on and on about the road less travelled in her post – the way she came to be a teacher via a different route than most would take. As she shows, the road less travelled isn’t always easy; it requires courage to step away from the crowd and define your own story, but she is a firm believer that we should celebrate the beauty of forging our own paths. www.Debs-world.com
Mary Katherine chose this month’s prompt, thinking about how our lives’ trajectories are so often determined by a few key decisions, often when we are too young to have the benefit of our own experience or perspective. See if her reflections make you think of those pivotal points in your own life, and how things might have gone differently, for better or for worse…Find out at https://mksadventure.com/
I’m away for a few days (I’ll tell you all about it when we get back…which should be before next Friday but if I miss my link-up post, it’s because we decided to stay an extra couple of nights!) so I thought I would add the Neverending Style Link-Up to today’s post instead! What have you been up to lately?
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