Pangburn Photography: Blog

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

by Robert Frost

As lame as it may be and as many english lit students and poets that will cringe at this statement, this is my favorite poem. I know it's over used and sort of like the mona lisa of poetry and therefore lame to be one's favorite, but non the less it is. From the very first time the words rolled off my tongue I was in love. There is something about this poem that grabs my spirit, speaks to my heart and in some ways has always been a guiding light through the years. Which is what brings me to my point.

Almost six years ago my amazing husband and I got married, packed up our few measly belonging and moved to Tucson to make our way in the world you might say. Both of us planned on finishing up our degrees at the U of A and then wait and see where life would take us. When we first moved here Joey worked at a gas station and I didn't even have a job... we'll just say we weren't really rolling in the dough. I kept telling Joe I should go out and get a job to help with bills and he would always reply "No, I don't want you working and having a job just to make money. I want you doing something that makes you happy, and if that means sitting at home, that's what I want you to do." (I know... I don't deserve him, he speaks french and writes poetry too.... swoon...) So I sat at home, and I worked on my business. I taught myself HTML and how to design my own website, I worked on making business cards, and my photography itself. I read book on the subject, listened to famous speaker and started taking photo classes. All the while my husband worked two or three jobs to pay our bills while going to school full time. I would say that this was silly and I could help if I just got a job and he would reply "No, I'm investing in you now and later I know it will pay off." And it did, my business grew and prospered and gradually began making more and more money until I was actually helping with the bills more and more. And the only reason any of it ever happened was because my husband was willing to take the road less traveled.

However, during this time I could see that Joe was never truly happy, he has dreams and goals of his own after all. After graduating with a degree in Journalism and working as a full time reporter at the same paper for nearly 5 years he was ready for a change. Except with not only the economy being in the state it's in but the newspaper industry falling on hard times, new opportunities were slim and hard to come by. And even if one had arisen, I don't think he was really ever dead set on that being his whole life. So we started looking, and back in September we heard of an awesome opportunity he could apply for with the military, working as a civilian employee. Intrigued by the job description of logistics management Joe began really looking into and researching the job, and the more he saw the more he really felt like it was what he had been looking for. The position would not only play to all his major strengths as an individual but would give our family the opportunity to live all over the world. So we talked it over, and in September he applied for the job. Then after three rounds of interviewing and a in person interview in Washington DC we finally got the word 2 days before Christmas that Joey got the job (one of about 32 spots from around 800 applicants).

We were elated... and to be quite frank, terrified.

As much as we really want this opportunity, it means a lot of changes. The biggest of which is Joe has to begin training for the position February 28th in Virginia at Fort Lee. Which is soon, and scary. And because it is so soon and we own our house here and the fact that well... I have weddings I have to photograph here, I am staying behind for a while. Which is probably the hardest part. It would just be to expensive for all of us to move there together just yet. So we'll have to be apart for about 6 months while I get things taken care of here, and figure out what to do with our house. I am not looking forward to that.

But he let me have my time to work on my dreams, the least I can do is to let him have his...

That's our big news. Joey and I are moving to Virginia, for now anyway. After training for 18 month he'll get put in his first position which could land us anywhere in the world from Italy to Japan to New Orleans, we don't really know. After that he'll get to have more of a choice of location on where he'd like to be working.

And don't worry, I'm not shutting down business. I'll still be here and taking photos wherever life may land us, the only thing that's going to change is the scenery.

While on one hand this entire thing terrifies me, that element of the unknown is an amazing and exciting feeling.

So with that, I'm walking hand in hand with my best friend down the road less traveled...



Photo of Joey and I Courtesy Of SunStreet Photo