Journey

I am trying to get caught up on my homework in the online class, Crafting My Best Life.  There are more classes coming up, sewing, painting, jewelry, etc.    We had homework regarding questions that made us look at our values.   A little bag was provided in the kit, I stamped a key on it for my compass and E=MC2.
E is for Ellen=Moral Compass 2(I have two children to pass my values onto, while they form their own).  The questions were tough, but necessary.  I find my values anchor my soul to my authentic self; We can only be our best selves and no one else. 

I found this Mary Oliver poem today; I feel the struggle as I try to continue on the path, I know is mine. My family loves me, but they are use to me guiding my compass by them.  I have to find my North star, I know where it lies, it is doing the work, keeping on track and when needed recalculate. Life has many detours, but we must remember to get back in the driver's seat and continue our soul's journey. We owe it to ourselves...I don't want to be on my death bed, wondering "What If"....

The Journey

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice—
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do—
determined to save
the only life you could save.

~Mary Oliver~