The Roads I Used to Know

Yesterday, on the way home from my doctor's appointment, I decided to "take the road less traveled" so to speak. I took the back roads home and turned onto roads that I hadn't taken since before my oldest daughter was born almost seven years ago. I was probably wasting more gas and money than I should have been, but time to reflect is something that I truly believe is priceless. I had a lot of time to reflect, while I was driving and I used that time to the fullest. I thought a lot about who I was the last time I traveled these particular roads and the person I have become, since I traveled them. I am definitely not the same person that I was all those years ago. Since then, I have become a wife, a mother, seen three deployments, lost friends to the war, and even lost a child. I have watched my father's health decline and realized the true meaning of mortality. I have made many mistakes, but have always learned from them and become a better person because of them. I went from a weak young woman, who thought very little of herself, to a stronger older woman, who is confident in herself and her abilities. I have met myself along the way and learned to love myself. I have especially learned to love my faults and embrace my failings. I have learned that everything happens for a reason, though it may take forever to figure out what the reason is. I have learned that every mistake we make, helps us become who we need to be. I have learned that God is not playing tricks on us or merely moving us around like pieces in a giant chess game. He lets us choose our own paths and make our own mistakes, so we can grow to become the person we need to be to survive whatever may come later on down the road. He picks us up and dries our tears, knowing full well that we are probably going to do something just as stupid, if not more stupid again. I have learned that anything is possible and anything can happen. I have learned that even when we do everything right and by the book, things do not always have the perfect outcome. Most importantly, I have learned to let everything in life become a learning experience to make me grow wiser. So even though I will be filling my gas tank sooner than anticipated and griping that I wasted gas with the prices rising higher every minute, I took myself on a journey that all of us need to make every once in a while. We all need to take the time to occasionally visit the roads we used to know.