The road not traveled

Today an old college friend invited me to have dinner with him and his daughter. He had planned to make my farewell party but couldn't, so he suggested that we get together for dinner before my move.  I was a little surprised, but also pleased, to learn he would be bringing his daughter, as he is a single dad and understandably is very protective of the time he is able to spend with her.

They arrived at the restaurant just before me, saw me drive into the parking lot and waited out front for me to walk from my car. Seeing the two of them standing together in front of the restaurant tugged at my heart unexpectedly. For just a moment, it felt like a glimpse of the path I thought my life would take, but didn't--one with a handsome husband and a child with whom I would share my Saturday nights. For the most part, the life I lead is so different from that that I don't find myself wondering "what if" because I don't even know what that would look like--seeing my married friends with their families doesn't have the same effect, perhaps because they are already a complete family. But this was different. In that moment in which I walked toward my single friend and his daughter, I could suddenly imagine what it might have been like for me.

I love the freedom that being single has afforded me. It gave me the opportunity to see places I never would have seen and the freedom to move to a different state without considering anyone else's schedule or needs. But tonight, I could not have been more surprised to find that I dearly wished I had had just a little time to experience a walk down that other path.