The Penn State Alumni AssociationWhat’s been happening: Back to a Future- A Metamorphic Choice: Robert Frost once wrote of standing before a fork in the road where, after some thought, he chose to take the one that appeared less traveled. I recall a time when I would have argued that, like Frost, I too had chosen the very same road. Yet,as I look back on my life, it becomes apparent that I must have taken the road more traveled; the road laid out before me as the one most appropriate and, therefore, the one most promising. Several years ago, however, I found myself back at the very spot where I had first made that choice and I could see the faint remnants of footsteps, my footsteps, that had instead tracked toward what could only have been a well-traveled highway; not the road I should have taken and certainly not the road less traveled. So there I stood thinking...wishing hoping...and praying that I had chosen the right road in the first place; but I knew in my heart that I hadn't and I knew that this time there would be no choice. I knew that the time had come for a different sort of journey; an arduous journey set in a sea of extremes you could almost call it a hero's journey because, by the time it's done, I will have tested the limits of my body, the strength of my spirit, and the capacity of friends and family to understand. By the time it's done I will have crossed the great gender divide to become Robyn Elizabeth Deane. |