(17)

Do not settle. I see the personalized license plate out of the corner of my eye as I am rounding the bend to a parking space: 

DNTSETLE

Don’t settle. 

Settle for what? Don’t settle for less than. Less than what I am capable. Less than what I am _____________________?

Possibly settling in comfort, of familiar, instead of embracing more:

Adventure. 

Life. 

Never settle.

(18)

Two choices as we come to the intersection–the signpost arrow pointing to the familiar path, the one without change, and I see off into the imaginary movie reel to a future as this as my destiny. It looks okay. Likely, as with all things we are far enough away from, we begin to romanticize and forget the obstacles and potholes along the way.

But the other path, the road less traveled, the one likely resulting in it not being worn out or down, still with weeds on the narrow pathway, standing tall, not crumpled by those touristing through life. I see brighter eyes, a glow in the skin, a hop in the step–vitality. A future I can’t yet place as the capillaries go off into various unknowns full of possibility.

Reminds me of when Dorothy enters Oz and the scene transitions from black and white, to technicolor. 

Roads less traveled are not necessarily yellow brick roads, but paved in jewels along the way that are worth the trek that might not otherwise be if I stay the familiar course. 

Because really, if one sticks it out too long, one eventually becomes stuck.