When Real Life Hits, Change Plans, Pick Up the Pieces, Keep Plugging
I’ve spent more time living abroad than I have been a US resident, so why now, fifty years later, after dozens of flights, was I scared to fly alone? Walking through an airport after a traumatic brain injury (TBI), with the bright lights, loud sounds and noisy crowds, is like bouncing around in a pinball […]
Wanted A Dog – Got A Chamois Instead
My best friend Skippy died the year I moved to Europe. Ever since I lost my childhood sidekick decades ago, I have longed to own a dog! But ze Frenchman was adamant, “Dog or me!” Well, that’s a no-brainer! I’ll never forfeit my number one chef, chauffeur, work-out partner, hiking buddy, electro-technician and soulmate for […]
Surviving Driving in Europe’s Mountains
My dad, once a driver’s ed instructor, taught me to drive on the backroads of Illinois and Wisconsin. I’ve never had a collision as a driver, but as a passenger, I have been in major accidents, one for each time period of my life from adolescence, to college, to the pro’s, to living abroad. I […]
The Fine Art of Cleaning à la Swiss
When my sister, a neatnik, first visited us in Switzerland decades ago, she was delighted by the orderliness. “Wow the streets are so clean you eat off of them!” Almost. Switzerland is the only place I know where sanitation workers regularly sweep the streets, pick up litter and blow leaves away from fountains and monuments. […]
I am
X-Pat, a feisty globetrotter. Teacher, writer, coach, speaker, and trailblazer with the down-to-earth, open-armed persona of The Heartland and a European twist. I have lived in four different countries, speak three languages and raised two bi-cultural kids with one très bon Frenchman. My passion is inspiring courage, breaking barriers, and creating connections.
Down and out? Hopeless and helpless? No matter where you are in your journey, my stories can help pick up your spirits, make transitions, gain new perspectives or just escape the daily grind.
If you deny a woman’s history, you erase her identity. I reveal the athlete’s untold story, from the passage of Title IX through forty years of social change. What makes it different from other sport biographies is the voice of a woman who walks the talk, who dribbled the ball and tells the story. Learn more by clicking here