I have a secret hope when painting cows, that perhaps they’ll see what I see, their inner buffalo. 

When a storm approaches, cows run away — which ultimately means they spend more time in the worst of it. Buffalo, on the other hand, face it directly. By running straight through it, they minimize the time and the pain suffered.

I remember him telling my tear-stained mother, “The only way out is through.” I’m not sure I understood exactly, but when my grandfather said something, I listened. I think they found their way in, these words. I still carry them, pocketed, tumbling through my fingers as I make my way through on the “least traveled path. In work, in love, and in living. Not to abandon the herd, but to offer another way. 

When I painted my neighbor’s portrait, she said it was the first time she saw herself as pretty. When I painted my mother’s portrait she said, “That woman doesn’t look like she needs to be afraid of anything, maybe I don’t either…” 

I think we all have it, the inner buffalo. I think if I see it in you, in myself, I have a responsibility to share it. And I do see it! Don’t you? We can do this. We can face it all together. Directly. Head on. Will it be easy? Not always. Will we run away? Never.