“I wrote a pep talk recently to myself on a bar napkin: no matter which road you take, it will be both glorious and unbearable. Every road is lonely. Every road, holy. The only error is not walking forth. Yesterday, a friend in California, when giving me directions, told me I could take the trail toward the tall pines or turn left and find a field of poppies, growing gold and savage at the edge of the valley. When I asked which to choose, she simply shrugged and said: either way, it’s all heaven.” LifeLife LessonsDecisionsChoice Book:Instructions for Traveling West: Poems Source: Instructions for Traveling West: Poems