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.

-- Robert Frost

This has always been one of my favorite poems and even recall quoting this poem in my high school yearbook. The question "What if" is always compelling and an interesting theme for me.

What if my father hadn't died? I may have been more successful professionally sooner under his tutelage, but I can also imagine being less able to have come into my own as a person. What if my Master hadn't died? How would life have turned out with him, his husband and me as their pup? Would I ever have become an alpha and have rudder as my pup?

Another pup, Anvil, and I were chatting the other day and this whole "what if" came about. When I met first Anvil, he wasn't a pup, he was a top on Bear 411. He and I chatted a bit, and he was always pleasant. As I remember, I was collared at the time by one the Masters in my earlier life, and although not as happy as I am with rudder or Master Burley, I considered myself owned and "off the market". ChiBearWilly, as I knew him then was a really nice top, but there he was, geographically undesirable in Chicago. So while we talked occasionally, I never took the opportunity to be his pup.

Some years back, I was at IML and was trying to make the best of it even though my Master Burley couldn't make it there. Out of the blue, there was Anvil in the hands of Master Oliver as a bearboy. He recognized me and that was our first meeting. We have been fast friends since then.

What if I had ended up as his pup? Would he have married Oliver? Would I have been the family pup? Would he have ever become a bottom to begin with?

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Five for Fighting, 100 years