I found a photograph of little me. I wanted to tell her something, so I wrote her a letter. Then the letter became a song. Then became songs, because once I heard the words sung back to her, I couldn’t stop. 🥹
I wrote them from the woman I am now to the little girl I was. She had a harder road ahead than she deserved. I can’t go back and spare her all of it. But I can tell her the truth: she makes it. She keeps her light. She grows up to make medicine, find her people, laugh until she can barely breathe, and build a home where no one goes hungry.
This has been amazingly cathartic; reaching back through time, taking her in my arms and letting her know how very much she is loved and wanted.
That potato-shaped rock in the kitchen window is real. So is Charlie, our tiger who has been with us through it all. They’re on the cover because they belong to our story. All songs share the same lyrics, but each catches a different facet of who we are. Turn a diamond in the light and every facet reveals something new. 💎
Untamed (my favorite version)
You Make It (Wild and Whole) – lullaby version
[Verse 1 — softly]
Oh, babygrrl, look at those eyes,
Bright as a doorway, open and wide.
I’m calling from somewhere farther along
To tell you the truth before the long road:
Some hands meant to feed you will leave you cold.
Some hearts see a light and want it controlled.
Their darkness will shock you, but here’s what I know—
It may gather around you; it won’t enter your soul.
[Chorus]
You make it, little Kitty boo.
The dark never gets the light in you.
You turn chaos into beauty,
Turn grief into medicine.
And when the world gives you only two ways out,
You find the third way in.
Oh, you make it—
Still laughing, still loving,
Grown wild and whole.
You make it, little Kitty boo.
You make it home.
[Verse 2]
You’ll beam that bright smile into darkened rooms,
Giving away warmth just to watch something bloom.
Some will love you and still let you down;
Some will know only one room of your house.
Some come for a season, awaken a spring,
Then leave you alone with the life that they bring.
Their leaving won’t prove that the loving was lies,
Or that you weren’t worth staying for all of your life.
You’ll grow very good with the edge of a word,
Sharp enough to make sure your fury is heard.
You’ll come out swinging when love’s under fire—
Then learn having a blade doesn’t mean it’s required.
[Chorus]
You make it, little Kitty boo.
The dark never gets the light in you.
You turn chaos into beauty,
Turn grief into medicine.
And when the world gives you only two ways out,
You find the third way in.
Oh, you make it—
Still laughing, still loving,
Grown wild and whole.
You make it, little Kitty boo.
You make it home.
[Verse 3 — warmth building]
You’ll gather loose threads and braid a lifeline,
Strong enough for others to cross beside.
And there in your kitchen, one day there will be
A potato-shaped rock keeping watch faithfully.
A promise in stone: We will never go hungry.
Funny and sacred, Irish and lovely.
You’ll make a home where the strange can belong,
Where medicine, laughter and misfits grow strong.
[Bridge — rising]
They’ll offer you fear or greed,
A doormat or vengeance,
Blind disbelief
Or obedient sentence.
They’ll tell you reality belongs to their side—
But they never accounted for how you’re designed.
You’ll refuse every cage.
You’ll reject every role.
You’ll take what diminished you
And make yourself whole.
Then one day we’ll laugh
Till we both cannot breathe
At darkness performing
Its grand tragedy.
That is our alchemy.
That is how we survive:
We don’t become darkness—
We make darkness funny
And keep the light alive.
[Final Chorus — full voice]
You make it, little Kitty boo.
They never get the light in you.
You turn chaos into beauty,
Turn grief into medicine.
And when the world gives you only two ways out,
You find the third way in.
Oh, you make it—
Still tender, still sovereign,
Still gloriously whole.
You make it, little Kitty boo.
You make it home.
[Outro — lullaby again]
So keep that bright face.
Let the future come through.
It has been traveling all this way
Just to meet you.
And after everything,
Here’s what you should know:
I love this incarnation.
You will too.
With all the love
We learned to give ourselves—
From Future Kitty,
Grown wild
And whole.
You got this, Boo! (Another Version of Untamed)