flying solo

Today’s prompt from the Ultimate Blogging Challenge is to share a favorite quotation.

The first quotation I have chosen is “Everyone deserves a chance to fly,” from the song “Defying Gravity,” in the musical “Wicked.”

Last month, I went with some friends to the movie theater to see “Wicked,” starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo. I was captivated by the movie, especially by the character of Elphaba, played by Cynthia Erivo. Elphaba later became known as the Wicked Witch of the West in the movie “The Wizard of Oz.” She had a very wicked cackle that I love. It’s fun to cackle like a wicked witch and to say, in a witchy voice, “I’ll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too.”

On the topic of the wicked witch, I went to a painting class at the Orange Poppy Art Studio last night. Paint night was all about “Wicked”!

We started with a plain white canvas, which we painted a dark gray. To get a solid color, you need to paint two coats. After painting the first coat, you dry the painting with a blow dryer and then paint the second coat.

We started adding shapes and colors, to develop the characters of Elphaba and Galinda.

Are Elphaba and Glinda/Galinda friends, enemies, or frenemies? It’s hard to tell, and my opinion changed constantly as the movie progressed, until it reached the final screen with the three infamous words glaring at me with huge letters: TO BE CONTINUED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It’s a great story, in my opinion, that I had fun, trying to capture in the painting, which continued to progress with more detail.

My next quotation is: “I’m through accepting limits ’cause someone says they’re so…”

Why should we let other people limit us? I am sure that we were told “you can’t” numerous times. All of those “you can’ts” don’t nourish our spirits. We feel weak when we permit other people to define who we are. Unfortunately, as we go through life, we encounter people who dispense the you can’ts with an official tone that we are afraid to reject. Which is what makes this quotation from Elphaba so great. It’s giving us permission to reject the limits and reclaim our power. It’s giving us permission to fly. We risk falling but there is nothing that we can do that is without risk. It’s impossible to live a totally risk-free life.

It seems that Glinda has a more difficult time rejecting the limits. As her image develops form, it is beginning to be clear that she is looking in a different direction than Elphaba, that she is more concerned with acceptance and with following the rules than she is with her power and her independence. We all have to make these choices and, usually, we can see the value of going in either direction.

“It’s time to trust my instincts, close my eyes, and leap…”

But scary. Because the unknown is always scary. Nevertheless, everyone deserves a chance to fly, to experience the magic and to feel the wind, and to touch the clouds.

And sometimes, you might have to leap into the unknown by yourself.

“And if I’m flying solo, at least, I’m flying free…”

How would you like to set yourself free in this coming week?