choices

within the past month and a half, two of my co-workers have given their two weeks notice. resignations happen all the time, but there was something different about these co-workers. i knew victoria first. she was just settling into her cubicle when, on my first day, i found my desk directly across from her's. she had also just graduated and was about a week into her job as an assistant in the media editorial department, while i was starting as an assistant in media production. the other co-worker, sasha, eased her way into my work life. as a new assistant in the new york version of my department, we found many occasions to exchange emails and instant messages.

over the next two and a half years our relationships ebbed and flowed. due to an office reorganization, i moved away from victoria's cube, so our conversations waned. promotions and department reorganizations meant that sasha and i talked about work more and more and our conversations slowly moved from work to life to philosophy. that meant that when sasha texted me to tell me she gave her notice, it was no surprise. we had already had long conversations about the pros and cons of what this move would mean for her career and her life, and how the transition would be easier for her and everyone who worked here if she stayed on to do a little freelance work.

as a freelancer, sasha went into the new york office a week or so after her last day to impart some of her knowledge on to others. i was sent to new york that day to try to suck some of that information back to our department in boston. after a long day of travel and meetings, i returned to penn station and was waiting for my train when i felt a tap on my shoulder. it was victoria, who was also returning to boston after doing some work in the city.

through our three and a half hour train ride, victoria and i caught up on life as well as what was going on on the other side of the office. we shared our love of the company as well as some frustrations, and talked about exactly what we could do about it -- including looking for new jobs. over the next few weeks, victoria dutifully updated me on her progress. so again, it came as no surprise today when victoria gave her notice.

then there is me. i could just as easily have left like the two others did, but i decided to stick it out. i think victoria made a great decision, i know that sasha is thrilled with her new life, and i am happier than i have ever been in my current job. there are differences about our situations, of course, but in the grand scheme of things, we were all given the same opportunity -- an assistant position in a textbook publishing company, and ended up in completely different places.

robert frost writes of taking the road less traveled. he writes:

though as for that the passing there

had worn them really about the same,

and both that morning equally lay

in leaves no step had trodden black

he says that each path was worn the same, so how could he have also taken the road less traveled? his road isn't the single choice to go one way or another. i could have easily gone the way of victoria, and sasha could have easily stayed with the company. instead, it is the combination of choices that each one of us makes to define our lives. when confronted with a choice, we are forced to choose one path or another. it is those choices, those paths, that then make up the road of our lives. my road is less traveled because it is mine and no one else's. it is a poem about how each life is different. it is a poem about how three twenty-something girls could take the same opportunity and end up in three different places.