Back in the day (it seems a million years ago now) when I first began teaching I always included a unit of poetry very early on in the year. To me, the idea of being able to understand the concept of imagery and the process of seeing the world through another's perspective is such a huge part of a young person's education. In my mind, by introducing them to well written poetry and the concepts contained therein, we could begin the process of nurturing them to be critical thinkers but also to see the possibilities and express their own thoughts.
Every year, one of my favorite pieces to introduce them to was Robert Frost's Poem "The Road Not Taken" (another interesting note, if you look at the title of the site, it's Bartleby.com, as in "Bartleby the Scrivener" a short story by Herman Melville) and to discuss with them what they think it's all about. Now as Spark Notes will tell us it's themes are deceptively complicated and it's not necessarily about regret or indecision but about making a choice and following it through. As it says at the end of the article it's also about "a more nuanced carpe diem". But the ability to look at it differently, depending on one's life experiences is all part of what makes it a universal masterpiece, because it CAN engender different responses in different readers and still stand the test of time. It has even been appropriated by Ford for one of their commercials;
Since this "The Contemplative Cyclist" you may ask yourself what does any of this have to do with my bike? Well the simple fact is there were two rides not taken this weekend. I thoroughly intended to. I really thought I would. You see every year we have our Annual Connor Clan Ice Cream Social and this year we were looking forward to it as we are fairly certain it might be the last one Sarah can attend before she goes off to college. But then Hermine decided she wanted to come to the party. After much wringing of hands (especially because we had bought all the ice cream and it was sitting in our freezers) we decided on Saturday that the forcast was too dire to chance (heavy winds of 40+ mph and rain at 2pm) so we sent out the notice to everyone that it was off. Which was sad because we had upwards of 40 people coming to the party. "Well," I said to myself, "at least this way I'll be able to go out for a ride tomorrow before the wind hits." Let me interject here, I HATE riding in the wind - especially when it's a headwind. So we settled ourselves in and prepared to crank up the generator. We didn't clean the house, we didn't put things away and we didn't make the first batch of home made ice cream.
Sunday morning at 8:00 I'm awakened by my Amy talking to me, her face eighteen inches from mine and saying "The weather forcast is for clear weather and no wind, should we have the party?" in her best Pollyannaesque manner. (No, this is not to confuse her with the movie starring of the same title starring Jane "Falcon Crest" Wyman and Hayley "Parent Trap" Mills) "It's up to you," I muttered and knew in my heart of hearts I wouldn't be sleeping any longer much less riding. Amy and I immediately set to reposting and letting everyone know it was back on and in a whirlwind five hours of activity we finished the shopping, made the ice cream, cleaned and straightened the house and were ready to receive our guests. Although not everyone was able to make it after we sent out the reposts it was great to have the time to spend with friends old and new - Stephanie Israelson, Heather and Meghan, Sharon Van Nostrand, Myna and Papa, Rich and Denise and so many more! So the choice was made and a ride didn't happen - but it was worth it for we had an incredible gathering of folks which couldn't have happened if I had woken up earlier and hit the road like I had originally planned.
Then Today came. It was Amy's birthday and my original plan was to get up REALLY early and go for a ride. I would get back in time to make her breakfast and we would spend the day doing what she wanted. But then I made another choice. I woke up early but as Amy was still asleep I made a decision to just enjoying being able to sleep in late with my wife. Of course, I then fell back to sleep and when I awoke the second time she was gone. Ah well, at least the thought was there. After going out for bagels, cream cheese, and lox we settled in to watch Allegiant followed up by Sean Connery (and Jill St. Jean) in Diamonds are Forever. Then, while Amy dyed Sarah's hair for the first day of school;
We finished up the day with eating salad, triple truffle chocolate cake and watching "The Great Foodtruck Race". All in all a day packed with fun and with the experience of sharing my wife's birthday with her doing what she wanted to do. Yeah, it was another ride not taken, but the choice was so much better - spending the day with the woman who still makes my heart flutter like a butterfly in the sunlight.
And although I can't leave you with a Flattened Fauna Record, I WILL leave you with another version of "The Road Not Taken" this time in a song recorded by Bruce Hornsby;
I will be riding tomorrow to school so with any luck I'll be able to post to you another Contemplative Cycling reflection in the near future!
Stay well and I'll see you on the road!
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