The one with the Cow Path

On the way home from Heber the other night, I was talking with Austin, my most favorite boy :] He could tell something was on my mind and let me vent for a minute. After I told him about how I felt like I needed some stability in my life - an education, a good job, a real future planned out - he started explaining how everyone should do things their own way. I need to figure out what will work best for me, not do what everyone else is or what they think will be best for me. While we were talking, he told me about this poem.

Cow Path

One day thru the primeval wood
A calf walked home, as good calves should,
But made a trail all bent askew,
A crooked trail, as all calves do.
Since then three hundred years have fled,
And I infer, the calf is dead;
But still behind he left his trail,
And thereon hangs my mortal tale.

The trail was taken up next day
By a lone dog that passed that way,
And then a wise bell-weather sheep
Sliding into a rut now deep,
Pursued that trail over hill and glade
Thru those old woods a path was made.

And many men wound in and out,
And dodged and turned and bent about,
and uttered words of righteous wrath
Because “twas such a crooked path”
But still they follow-do not laugh-
The first migrations of that calf.

The forest became a lane
That bent and turned and turned again;
This crooked lane became a road
where many a poor horse with his load
Toiled on beneath the burning sun,
And traveled some three miles in one.

The years passed on in swiftness fleet,
The village road became a street,
And this, before the men were aware,
A city’s crowded thoroughfare.

And soon a central street was this
In a renowned metropolis;
And men two centuries and a half
Followed the wanderings of this calf.

Each day a hundred thousand strong
Followed this zigzag calf along;
And over his crooked journey went
The traffic of a continent.

A hundred thousand men were led
By one poor calf, three centuries dead.
For just such reverence is lent
To well established precedent.

A moral lesson this might teach
Were I ordained and called to preach.

For men are prone to go it blind
Along the calf paths of the mind;
And work away from sun to sun
To do what other men have done.

(Author Unknown)

I really love it. I don't need to do what everyone else is doing. Who says that's the right way? If there's one thing I'm learning while living on my own, it's to be my own person. I always knew who I wanted to be but never wanted to risk being weird or too different. But, who cares. Obviously, trying to be who I'm probably expected to be doesn't really work out. Plus, if I'm going to make mistakes, I want to make them my own way. Then, I'm less likely to regret them later on.

I'm going to figure out a plan that I can actually carry out. I don't care if I don't get back to school until I'm 30. I'm going to do it. I know it's important for me to get an education. If I can just get a good paying job (or start making ridiculously big tips at my current job), I can start saving money and, soon enough, I can start thinking about online or night classes. Who knows, really. BAM! I can do whatever I want.

So, there. I'm Molly. Hopefully that's okay with everyone because I'm not turning back! I'll need help along the way, though. Thanks to my friends and family, I've been able to start realizing who I really am. And things are getting better! :] So, here's to setting goals and leaps of faith!