MY ROADS and CROSSROADS
by
Marilyn Bueckert

       My roads have been many for almost seven decades. I’ve lived on city roads, northern roads, country roads, water roads and desert roads.

       Sometimes my roads have met others at crossroads in my life. My familiar South Vancouver street where I learned to roller skate, ride my bike and drive my first automobile was replaced by well ordered streets of Northern Kitimat. All were grouped in themes and I lived in the bird section. All roads were alphabetical in order so it was easy to find where you were going.

       When I married, my roads were waterways – inlets, oceans and creeks. I also wandered through back roads, keeping a wary eye out for bear or cougars. With my family I hiked the West Coast trail’s northern section, which was the road for the lighthouse family, unless they too travelled by water.

       Back to city roads I went but my heart missed the boardwalks and boat rides of the quieter island home. I moved further out into the Fraser Valley and realized my new home was on one of the main drags of town so soon moved to a quieter street in the area.

       With retirement came country roads again in the desert area of Ashcroft. Here we shared the road with marmots, chukkars, coyotes, loads of walkers and the odd bear or cougar. Now, further out again, my road winds past two quiet lakes but the road itself is rarely empty of traffic.

       Huge ore trucks haul back and forth to the quarry and people who once lived out in the bush, now find they are trailing many others who also had the same goal of a quiet place in which to call home. However, in the early mornings, only cows, deer or coyotes wander along the road before it becomes busy again. The waters of the lake become the highway for geese, ducks, an eagle, a pair of osprey, cheeky magpies, the odd crow and one white pelican which visited briefly during the forest fires. A few days ago, seven swans were swimming until a herd of thirsty cows disturbed them from their resting spot on the lake.

       I think of all the roads where I have lived and have loved something about them all, for they were all roads that went past home. One day I will travel down another road but it is one from which I will not return. That journey will be as exciting as the ones I have made during my life.