In the most recent adaptation of “Little Women,” Jo says, “If I was a girl in a book, this would all be so easy.” Which is ironic, because, as we know, she is a girl in a book. And it’s all laid out before her. Page by page. 

In the book Bird Song, I write:

“Sometimes I think I’d like to know the future…how it all turns out, you know…as if that would make it easier. Silly I suppose…and the moment passes. I’m ok with now, good actually. Skies are blue and my wings are strong. I feel loved and hopeful. Sure I get scared sometimes…we all do. The blue is filled with those who timidly, nervously, wantfully, stepped out onto a limb…held their breath and took the jump, a leap of faith. And so I love and leap and believe, not needing to be certain all the time…feeling there is more comfort in love than in certainty. And would I step out onto the next limb if I knew?… maybe not.  Who wants to be stuck in certainty? I want to soar in the beauty of the unknown. It is there I will grow. It is there I will feel.  It is there I will truly live.”

When I painted her yesterday, I could see it…how she was lost in all that certainty. So sure of what was before her, it nearly bent her in half. So blinded by what was, she nearly missed the what could be that perched on her back. I don’t know what lies ahead, but I’d like to think she gives herself a chance to soar. I want that…for me, for you, for all of us, big and small — to fly in the beauty of the unknown.