"And Miles To Go Before I Sleep"

The other day I felt overwhelmed with exhaustion and it was still quite early in the day.  I looked down at my two, overly energetic children wondering how on earth I would manage to get through an entire day with my bouncing bundles at my side. If only energy were transferable and no amount of coffee was going to help.

My mind then wondered to a time when I was completing graduate school, working two jobs and planning my wedding all in a short, yet what seemed to be, endless period of time.  I would finish a day at work and prepare myself mentally for a night of teaching.  At the time, my feat seemed nearly impossible, yet I managed to complete graduate school, fall in love with teaching and married the man of my dreams.  

 It wasn’t easy, but it was worth the gallant efforts. 

There were days I would recite the last lines of the poem by Frost (see below) over and over again in my mind, somehow drawing strength from those two simple sentences at the very end and taking his words quite literally (neglecting the idea that sleep in this case meant death).

In short, there are periods in our lives when exhaustion and weariness follow us around like weight on our shoulders, but to push through and find strength in the times that will one day flow into our pasts, is indeed worth every courageous effort.

And so I remember, "Miles to go before I sleep."

For there is still so much left to accomplish in this one beautiful life I have been given.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.