The Path

The Path

Every night I pray to God asking Him to keep me on path. Make sure my actions; my choices will lead me down the right path that He helps me do the right things that will guide me in the right direction. Today, I believe he showed me.

Chapter 1: Peace and Blueberry Pancakes

I dreamt that I was in car driving over a bridge. Freezing rain pouring down. My windshield starting to freeze over and I couldn’t see where I was driving. I knew something tragic was going to happen yet I continued driving. Next thing I know I slam into the side of the bridge, my car falling off the side and slamming into the water. The car begins to fill with water and I think to myself, I’m waking up now.

I grabbed a cup of coffee from the lobby and went outside looking for a place to sit down and enjoy the hot black water goodness. I strolled down near the golf course and found a bench overlooking a pond. I sat back thinking that I am in Massachusetts on this beautiful fall morning staring at a peaceful pond asking myself why do I get so glum on these trips sometimes. Of course I know the answer, but it was peaceful setting that I wish I could take in everyday. I didn’t have an appointment until 12pm so I had some time to relax and drink my coffee. I walked up to my room and sent some emails and did some work. It was 9am now so I decided to have some breakfast.

The restaurant is kind of shabby since the hotel is under renovation. I find a table and wait. I wait bit longer. I continue to wait until the waitress notices me. She comes over and asks if I want some juice or coffee. I choose juice since I’ve had enough coffee at this point. She fills my class with juice and walks away. I sip on my juice and wait. Finally another waitress comes up and asks if I’m doing okay and I say, “may I have a menu, please?” So I look over the menu and wait. The waitress comes back and I order blueberry pancakes. Sure assures me that the blueberries are cooked inside the pancakes just the way I like them.

The restaurant is a bit chilly so I wear my jacket and stare at a table full of Chinese people. Construction workers tool around the restaurant, which seems to be a bit distracting. Finally, my blueberry goodness shows up and the waitress brings me honey instead of syrup. I hold it up and she apologizes. I butter my hotcakes and she takes her time with syrup but it eventually shows up. I pour the pure maple syrup over the pancakes and dig in. They taste awful. Like the pancakes were pre cooked and microwaved for a couple of minutes and served hot. They were spongy and bland. I ate half of the three-cake tower and asked for my check. I handed over my amex and in know time she came back saying it was declined. I give her my personal card and signed the bill. I sat thinking; maybe I should have waited to go to the peaceful place after breakfast.

Chapter 2: The Lunch Time Representative

I made a few calls to work to get them to up my account once again. It’s all very confusing really. This expedia thing really has made it harder to regulate our accounts. They are learning that now, but nothing will be done. I jump into “Big Blue” and we cruise on the highway. Twelve miles later I’m in Lexington. I find the high school with no problem and park at the visitor’s space. I lug all my stuff to the main office passing by three other college reps sitting at a table. I sign in and they tell me to go to guidance down a long hall. I pass by the reps again and reach the guidance office. The lady then takes me down the hall once again with all my stuff to the tables where the college reps are. They give me a table and I set up. I mingle with the other reps that never heard of Full Sail and then the lunch bell rings. Students pass by looking over at my table with curiosity only a couple stop by. A couple of the reps pack up and leave me there alone. Apparently they had been there for a while already.

I watch students walk by looking at the table in passing. I felt belittled sitting there at the table. I never had to be that person sitting at a table in a high school outside the cafeteria. It felt degrading in a way. With everything that I have done, everything I’m trying to do it was one of those moments I felt like a failure. Then inspiration struck. Maybe the movie idea about college reps I have been waiting for. A shulb who was once an aspiring author takes a job at his old college the fictitious Merrimont College doing college fairs. I picture Philip Seymore Hoffman playing the guy who is quiet, awkward doing this to distract him from his work. There’s a story in this somewhere I know. My mind continued to watch this new movie in my head. The made time fly by. My time was up and I started to pack it up. That’s when several kids started to come by the table asking questions. I sold them immediately and they started filling out the forms. I went from one form to six in a matter of seconds. Still the movie continued to play over in my head so now I have a base to build on after having that useless dramatic feeling.

Chapter: 3 Battle Field Green

The next task was just a few blocks from the school. Lexington is a small historic town big on its history. I parked my car on the street and walk toward the monument. It was a monument created for the lives that fought on that day. The grass is a dark green well kept by the city. My task is to lie down on the grass of the battlefield green. It’s a beautiful 60 degrees and I lie down and close my eyes. I picture the moment at 1am in the morning where the first shots exploded starting the American Revolution. A rush of sadness surged through my body picturing the men who fell to their death perhaps where I am laying. Historical sites can be quite sad really. A lot of them are monuments of people who have died. Of course they died for something even greater than them but still in the simplistic basis, I am perhaps lying next to someone who was shot bleeding to death thinking of his life or family until passing on. I wish I could tell them what their sacrifice meant what their revolution became.

I walked over to a large statue of a Minuteman. Now for all you who I went to high school with I stood where the minutemen are truly represented. My high school was the Concord Minutemen in Elkhart Indiana. Now I feel like I fully understand the real meaning of what a minuteman is. I toured the one room museum and another park with other small monuments for other lives lost. I was now completely engulfed with history I realized that I was extremely hungry. So I ended up at a restaurant eating good old-fashioned Chinese food. Oh, the American Way.

Chapter 4: The Forgotten Path

I was excited to accomplish my next task. Finding the Brothers Rocks. I did much research before leaving the hotel to be able to locate this landmark. I drove up to Bedford and followed the roads. I turned right on this small road called the Old Causeway. Four houses line this single lane road and then to the left is a wildlife refuge. Trees lined the refuge while I’m looking for signs leading me to the trail. Nothing. I enter the Harvard Field Station where they keep goats and chickens looking around for any indication of trail to this historic landmark. I see a guy and pull up. I ask him about the Brothers Rocks, the trail and he has no idea what I’m talking about. I show him the map that’s on my computer and still doesn’t have a clue. He tells me to go to the Field Station office and ask. So I do and another Harvard student comes out. He has no idea either. So I drive down the Old Causeway and still don’t see any indication of a path. I turn right off the Old Causeway looking for signs, trails anything. I pass a boat ramp and come to another area on the other side of the bridge. A man is fishing by the river and I ask him. He has no idea what I’m talking about. He directs me to go further up the road where there’s a park. I do and know this isn’t it at all. I look at the map once again and see that it starts at Old Causeway road and ends on the south bank of the Concord River not the North and I know I am on the North side of the river. I drive back to Old Causeway road and I see nothing. Frustrated and time running out I decide to head back defeated.

I had text Brittany earlier claiming my frustrations and just when I was driving away defeated she calls. I tell her there’s nothing there and couldn’t see anything. I tell her I’ll turn around one more time and take a picture to show her there’s really nothing. So I go back and get out of my car to take a picture. I look through the dense trees and I see what could be a path. I walk closer and see that is a path, but where? It’s a wildlife refuge so I’m sure there’s a path but is it the right path? Am I trespassing? I park my car on the side of the road unsure if I should just leave it there. I decide to do it. I start following the path still unsure. The path forks so I take the one I think is north. The path leads me into a backyard of some residence. I turn back go back to my car again feeling defeated. I study the map on my computer once again. I debate and decide to try again. I take the other path pounding my feet against the ground in complete angry determination that I will find these rocks. I pass by a swamp, I look at the leaves turning colors, I continue following the path. Then another fork in the forest makes me even more frustrated. There weren't forks on the map!

I start going left and feeling my internal compass is off. I turn around and go the other way. I end up at a street lined with stacked rocks. Two small rocks sitting next to each other on the side of the road I ask myself this can’t be it can it? Knowing it can’t be I take a picture and text it to Brittany even though I know they aren’t the right rocks because they aren’t on a riverbank. So I turn around and head back. I get to the fork in the forest and have a choice, to either go with my first intuition or head back to the car. I go with my intuition. I walk for another ten minutes and come to another fork. Even more frustrated I stop to think. I start taking a path and just know it’s the wrong way. So I go back to the fork. That’s when I hear a motor of a boat. So I continue down the other path following the sound of the motorboat. A fallen tree blocks the path and I stop. I look down the path and really can’t see the river. So I climb over the tree. Now, I forgot to mention I am in my work clothes. I have on khaki pants and my Full Sail polo shirt. I’m really not dressed to be hiking especially when I have a college fair to go to in an hour. After climbing over the tree I continue down the path. Through dense trees I see the sun reflecting off the river. At the riverbank lies a huge rock. Ten feet away is another huge rock. Engraved on one rock says Winthrop 1638 and the other Dudley 1638. A moment of sheer excitement and accomplishment I have no idea what to do next. It’s muddy and wet so I lean against the Dudley rock and take it all in.

Chapter 5: The Shadow

I took the pictures I need to document this great find. I felt like that I was the first person do discover these rocks. Since no one ever has heard of them and later talk about it that night still find nobody even knows about this landmark I feel somewhat even more accomplished.

I head back down the path, the sun beating on my back giving me a shadow to lead the way out of the forest. While walking, I think about this simple journey. How I pray every night to stay on path. On this journey I constantly hit forks in the road where I didn’t go with my true intuition, which led me way off path. If I had just stayed with that gut feeling what I know was right the journey would have lasted only 15 minutes. The way there took me nearly an hour. I always come to these forks in the road with my life and sometimes I make the wrong decision that I know is wrong and get way off path. Some how though I stop or come to a dead end and get back on the right path only to come to another fork in the road. It was a reminder to go with what you know is right and stick to your intuition of what’s right. If not, no matter how fun it is or a different adventure it will be, it leads to a dead end and it’s exhausting to try to find your way back. I believe God was trying to tell me something.

I make it to the school with no problem. I unload my gear and try to knock the mud off my boots. I lug it into the school and find my table. I talk to the lady rep next to me about my adventure and she has lived here for a long time and never knew about those rocks. The fair began and it was very small. Not many students showed up but Full Sail sparked some curiosity in parents and students. It wasn’t a complete waste. Yet time went by fast and I was out of there in an hour and a half. The drive home was easy making it to my hotel just before 9pm.

I began writing this blog and realized, after a fulfilling day like today. Where I felt like a failure, honored the dead, became lost, discovered 300 year old rocks and made peace with God I decided to it was time to rest my body and fall asleep.

Epilogue:
Today I have some extra time. I think I’m going to do one thing that is not on my list of things to do, but every aspiring writer needs to do and that is…

Battlefield Green


Laying on the Battlefield Green: MISSION COMPLETE


Minuteman


Old Causeway Road


The Path


The Swamp


The Fake Rocks


A Rock Wall


The Concord River


The Dudley Rock



The Winthrop Rock



The Brothers Rock: MISSION COMPLETE