My Journey Home

Introduction The Journey Before the Journey There are moments in life when something inside us quietly begins to shift. Not loudly. Not dramatically. But gently — like a whisper that returns again and again until we finally stop long enough to listen. For much of my life, I believed I was living the life I was supposed to live. I built a meaningful career. I cared deeply for the people around me. I showed up for family, responsibility, work, and the many roles life asks us to carry. From the outside, my life looked full. And in many ways, it was. But somewhere beneath the routines, expectations, and years of doing what needed to be done, there was a quieter truth I had not fully allowed myself to hear. I was longing for something. Not necessarily for a different life. But for a deeper connection to the one I was already living. This book is not simply about travel. It is about what happens when we say yes to ourselves. It is about listening to the quiet voice that asks us to step beyond what feels familiar and into what feels true. At sixty-seven years old, I left home and travelled alone across the world. What began as a fifty-one-day journey through Bali, Ireland, Spain, the Azores, and Tuscany — and later continued in Costa Rica — became something far greater than I could have imagined. It became a journey inward. A journey through grief, healing, trust, ancestry, identity, spirituality, friendship, courage, and self-discovery. Along the way, I learned that transformation does not always arrive through dramatic moments. Sometimes it comes quietly. Through stillness. Through presence. Through saying yes before you feel fully ready. This memoir is not written from the perspective of someone who had everything figured out. It is written by a woman who chose to go anyway. A woman who followed the pull of something she could not fully explain. A woman who slowly discovered that the places she travelled were never the destination. They were mirrors. Each country revealed something different. Each experience uncovered another layer. Each step away from home brought me closer to myself. You do not need to travel across the world to recognize parts of your own story inside these pages. Perhaps your own journey looks different. Perhaps yours begins with a quiet question. A longing. A transition. A moment when life asks: What now? If you have ever felt restless. If you have ever wondered whether there was still more life waiting for you. If you have ever sensed that something inside you was asking to be reclaimed. Then perhaps this book is for you. This is not only a story about where I went. It is a story about how I returned. Not to a place. But to myself. And perhaps, in some way, to home.