The Road Goes Ever On and On

The Road goes ever on and on,
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet. 
And whither then? I cannot say. 

We literally just returned from our week of wandering through Spain and Switzerland. Stephen and Aidan are still in transit, but Kalie and Sean and I just stumbled through the door of 29 Faulkner Street, and--after saying a quick hello to Janice, who is downstairs packing up our house--promptly collapsed. I'm drowsily sprawled on my creaky mattress in my room. Odd to think that I am the last OOSC student who will be sleeping in this room. Odder still to think that soon it won't be my room anymore.

It's empty and sun-drenched, the way it was when I first moved in about three months ago. So strange.

I think we're going to use the house as a home base for the next few days, until it's time to overnight in London for our flight out of Heathrow. In the meantime we want to do a bit of travelling: Canterbury, Bath, Stonehenge, another day or two in London. A jam-packed final week in England.

I'm glad we're ending it here. I really like Europe, but England has begun... no, not even that. England feels like home. It is another home. What is it that Bilbo says to Gandalf about Frodo? "In his heart he's still in love with the Shire. The woods, the fields, the little rivers." I know how he feels now, having lived in Oxfordshire. It's hard to pull myself away.

But there is another adventure behind this one. The road curves behind a hill, and there lies a new beginning. And there are friends who will take that curve with me, and friends I will meet again on the other side of it, and friends I haven't even met yet who will come into my life when we least expect it.

All semester, I've been caught up in the worry of what is beyond that curve. What will I do after Oxford? After graduation? Right now, though, I don't care. I know that the road goes on, that the pursuing of it and--maybe more importantly--the enjoyment of it is a choice... and right now, I think that's good enough for me.