A Memoir

Embrace the Moon
Hug the Tree

This is the story of how I went in search of happiness and fulfillment across oceans and continents. Wherever I went, I carried the same two things with me: a thirst for new experiences and a quiet unhappiness I could never quite leave behind.

I was good at reinventing myself in new places, no matter the language or culture. What I wasn’t good at was maintaining relationships. I had a habit of burning bridges and boarding a plane to another country, convinced the next destination might finally bring the contentment I was looking for.

Israel, Thailand, the Philippines, Australia, Honduras, Panama, China, and New Zealand are among the places where I lived. I traveled with a restless spirit and the hope that somewhere along the way I would find what I was missing. Instead, life eventually caught up with me. My body fell apart, and so did my marriage.

I left again, this time with my two children. My search for self-love and peace led me to a traditional Chinese martial arts academy in Wudang, China. There I spent two years training and praying each day in the temple, asking the statues to teach me the meaning of love. That was where I began to change from within, one Tai Chi step at a time.