“It is also for stepping into the unknown," Claudia said, "when it would be easier to cling what it familiar and safe.”

“It is familiarity with life that makes time speed quickly. When every day is a step in the unknown, as for children, the days are long with gathering of experience . . .”

“He felt warm and familiar. He felt solid and safe. I wanted to cling to his shirt, bury my face into the warm curve of his neck, and never let go.”

“Was that part of faith, the willingness to step into the unknown and simply believe that God would be there with us? Would I be called on to do that for Mila? Or for Anna? Would I be able to take that step into thin air and believe that God will be with me no matter what?”

“Always in the big woods when you leave familiar ground and step off alone into a new place there will be, along with the feelings of curiosity and excitement, a little nagging of dread. It is the ancient fear of the Unknown, and it is your first bond with the wilderness you are going into.”

“The fear of an unknown never resolves, because the unknown expands infinitely outward, leaving you to cling pitifully to any small shelter of the known: a cracker has twelve calories; the skin, when cut, bleeds.”