In an attempt to pick my final novel for my literature class this year, I read multiple books and with a cup of coffee and a book in my hands, I found the perfect conclusion to an extraordinary year with a book about a cow. 

In order to not be too lengthy, I will give a brief synopsis of the book here. The book Moo is a prose book by one of my favorite authors (Creech.) She has written multiple novels in verse-each one more whimsical than the next. But what struck me about this one was the simplicity of the topic. Two children move from the city to rural Maine and befriend a cow. This cow, without even speaking, speaks more about life than any character I have witnessed in any other book. 

And as of late I have contemplated the explicit visionaries, but I have failed to acknowledge the importance of the cow in the whimsical lives of the world. Everyone needs a cow. Everyone needs one person or one object or one reminder or thought that keeps them grounded. It's that symbol that keeps you in track, keeps you going back to a safe place of contemplation and a realness you cannot find anywhere else. 

My cow is something I have discovered only lately. When I cross the 40th street bridge in the mornings, I turn right off the bridge, and on sunny mornings, I see my cow. My cow is the giant egg yolk (at least that is what it looks like) rising out of the sky creating an aura unlike any other. Lately, the sunny side up egg has been huge, yolky, beautiful, hovering over the thickness of the clouds. And every time I see it, I come back to the same thought, what a complex but beautiful world this is. How awesome that I am alive another day to experience a sky this beautiful. 

So I suppose I urge you to find a cow of your own. It may moo and grumble from time to time. But ultimately, your cow is that thing or that someone that keeps you reminded of why you are here. The reality that you are here, healthy and alive and your purpose is far greater than the black and white spots that you may see grazing in the distance.