In the commencement speech she gave at Sarah Lawrence in 2006, Ann Patchett observes:

Every choice lays down a trail of bread crumbs, so that when you look behind you there appears to be a very clear path that points straight to the place where you now stand.

But when you look ahead there isn’t a bread crumb in sight — there are just a few shrubs, a bunch of trees, a handful of skittish woodland creatures. You glance from left to right and find no indication of which way you’re supposed to go.

And so you stand there, sniffing at the wind, looking for directional clues in the growth patterns of moss, and you think, What now?

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