The road taken..............

Today as I was headed towards home I turned off the highway onto a road other than the usual route.?ÿ In fact, I had turned without giving it a thought.?ÿ After a few hundred feet I thought to myself, "Why did I turn here?"?ÿ There were a couple pastures of cattle I could look at by taking that route but I had not been thinking of doing that.

Two miles later as I approached the cemetery for which I serve as one of the trustees I saw a car in a driveway.?ÿ I slowed down to see if it was anyone I knew and, instead, saw an Alabama license plat on the car.?ÿ A couple had stepped into the car as I was slowing down, so I stopped, backed up and got out to greet them.?ÿ As the driver came out first, I asked if they had some relatives buried there.?ÿ He pointed to his wife and said, "She does."?ÿ Thus started our little visit about her distant relatives, beginning with a Civil War soldier who settled here in 1866.?ÿ They were worn out as they had wandered all over the cemetery in search of his grave.?ÿ I told them to follow me and they followed.?ÿ Good ol' Abner was still where he has been since 1902 and where his wife joined him in 1908.?ÿ His large, black stone is rather impressive.?ÿ How they managed to miss it I will never know.?ÿ I talked with them about the original homestead a mile and a half south of where we were standing.?ÿ Abner's wife, Fanny and her Ford family.?ÿ The Blaine family who homesteaded across the road as they were relatives, also.?ÿ Two of Abner's great-great grandsons were in high school with me.?ÿ As the wife set out taking photos I chatted with the husband, pointing out the nearby stone that announces HUBBARD with smaller headstones simply marked FATHER and MOTHER.?ÿ You see, Old Mother Hubbard took up permanent residence here about 100 years ago.

The road taken........but why??ÿ What led me to be in the right place at the right time to rescue the weary searchers and help them complete their mission so far from home?