To the Road We've Travelled...

 ...and to the road ahead.

I'm surprised how often I have a profound deep-thoughts moment while watching TV.  This one came from Leverage:  Redemption (one of my all-time favourite TV shows).  In the scene, two battered soldiers raise a glass to the journey through war that they have just survived.  They acknowledge the horror of it, find some humour in it, and reaffirm their friendship - all in that simple phrase:  'To the road we've travelled'.

Then, they deliberately emerge from that horror and look forward to new peace and continued friendship by saying 'to the road ahead'.  Neither of them have any great hope for their futures - they expect continued struggles and difficulty.  But, in that moment, they raise a glass to what might be, and bravely determine to get through it.

It made me think of similar moments in my life.  The day I got out of a toxic relationship, and could actually breathe for the first time in years.  The day I quit teaching and went back to graduate school, which represented a difficult journey done and another one just begun.  The day I gave up on getting an academic job, which was a day of tears and sorrow and a strange sense of relief.    The day I published my first book, which was the culmination of twenty years of struggle and the beginning of a great adventure.

It's so valuable to take a moment when we reach the end of something and look back on the road we've travelled.  It centres us, rewards us, allows us to evaluate what has happened and accept it.  And, most importantly, it can give us the courage to face what's ahead.