Where'd You Go, Bernadette

Call me Bernadette.

I reread Where’d You Go, Bernadette this past week. The first time I read it, in early fall, I focused on Bee, the Seattle and Microsoft humor, and the twists and turns of the plot. This latest reading pulled my attention to Bernadette alone. For various reasons, Bernadette had stopped creating. She stopped working; she stopped tinkering; she stopped making. She didn’t architect or engineer; she didn’t nest; she didn’t write; she didn’t knit; she didn’t cook. She didn’t solve problems. She withered. I was thinking it was a cautionary tale and then…

…I listened to Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’s new album at least a dozen times during the same week. (I could go on and on about my enchantment with the song writing.) Ten Thousand Hours is a well-chosen hook.

The greats weren’t great because at birth they could paint, The greats were great cause they’d paint a lot.

Do. Make. Tinker. Write. Design. Cook. Solve. Invent. Paint. Knit. Sing. Play. Create.

Call me Bernadette, in Antarctica.