Voluntary Nomads

“I started to write Voluntary Nomads as a legacy for my family but soon realized that our stories would appeal to other Foreign Service families, military families and anyone who had lived or traveled abroad as well as those who wished to go overseas but couldn’t.

My memoir begins in 1974 with a struggle to find a livelihood for our family of four in rural New Mexico. When a welcome stroke of luck lands my husband, Fred, a job with the State Department, we pack our few belongings and bundle up our 20-month-old son and 12-month-old daughter for the journey from Los Lunas, New Mexico to Washington, DC and onward to seven overseas assignments over the next 22 years.

With equal parts enthusiasm and optimism, we embrace our first post, Tehran, during the final days of the Shah’s regime. Dropped straight into a different culture and language in a country suffering the turmoil of revolutionary unrest, we learn immediately how important adaptability will be to our new way of life.

Voluntary Nomads recalls my memories of raising two children in extraordinary conditions and demonstrates that the triumphs and heartaches of family life go on, no matter how exotic the locations or unique the experiences. My stories of Foreign Service family adventures in Iran, Cameroon, New Zealand, Somalia, Dominican Republic, Austria, and Bolivia, remembered with warmth, insight, and candor, celebrate the resilience and resourcefulness of a spirited American family.”