Lots has been said about living by those who've already done it.

I used to worry I had nothing original to say. I'd think on a thing for quite some time, and look it over from many angles. Then I'd write about it only to end up stumbling across someone who'd already said something similar. It used to frustrate me, as if I'd been beaten to the punch. Now, though, it just feels... comforting.

The light's fading but it's not dark yet as I'm walking back to my car after our soccer game. Usually, people clear out pretty quick once the whistle blows. People shake hands, offer their "good games," shuffle to the sideline, take off their cleats, and head out with some sort of "see ya next week!" Not today, though. Today, I'd had my cleats in one hand and a water bottle in the other, ready to roll, but couldn't quite extricate myself from the group. I wasn't even trying to. It's just that one conversation would spill into another, absorb one more, and then collect a few others after that. Nobody seemed to be in a hurry. So I sat back down, content to chat.

We were sprawled out in the grass with an evening breeze washing over us. It felt really nice. I was glad I brought my hoodie rather than leaving it in my truck. Seems like most people did the same. I don't even know how we got on the topic, but a group of us were talking about the age grouping of youth sports and how, at a certain point, it just seems wild to split things up like that. A friend talked about how he stopped playing baseball because they had 13-year-olds playing with 17-and-18-year-olds. I mean, what?? That's a HUGE difference. He mentioned being small for his age, not hitting his growth spurt until the back half of high school. When he asked me about my experience with playing against older guys as a kid, I told him about playing up on varsity football as a freshman and feeling completely out of place. I was strong and fairly quick, but I was still small compared to the 18-year-olds on my team; some of whom were off to play D1 college ball.

So, while strolling back to my truck, I couldn't help but smile. I feel like such a different person than that football-playing kid with his own aspirations to play in college. When I got hurt, that seemed like a real turning point. It's how I ended up at The University of Vermont—a school without a football program. Of the schools I'd been talking with during the recruiting process, I ultimately didn't want to go somewhere and have to watch a team I could've been on from the stands. If not for that, I'm not sure I'd have found my way into guiding outdoor trips. Maybe I'd never have moved to Wyoming or competed in big mountain snowboarding. I probably wouldn't have coached Freeride World Tour athletes, either.

And who knows if I'd be here now.

I find myself on the ledge of another inflection point in life at the moment. And, climbing into my truck, all I can think of are someone else's words, describing a thing I've been thinking on and writing about for quite some time:

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."

—Robert Frost, "The Road Not Taken" (1915)

* * *

"A wizard is never late, Frodo Baggins. Nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to"

—Gandalf the Grey, "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" (2001)

onward.

For more on this daily column, read the backstory here. And if you know someone who'd appreciate this, pass it along.