Forever Traveling Home
Disheartened by staying with a man she loves but who doesn't want children, the author makes a complete life-change and joins the Peace Corps. Living in rural Macedonia with a host family she feels she's known all her life, this is her ticket to heal – until an imminent civil war forces an evacuation. Determined to stay her course, the author relocates to Romania where she ends up meeting her future mate. Now settled in the States, married and with children, her husband gets hired to move back overseas. The author braves the emotional and physical challenges of moving from her quiet, midwestern town back to Eastern Europe, this time with kids. Narrated with intimacy and humor, the author overcomes unexpected obstacles and decides that the risks of leaving and the pangs of saying goodbye are unequivocally worth it in the end.
Acclaim for
Forever Traveling Home
Regina’s book is an homage to all those who sacrifice “home” for service . . .
I appreciate how her book challenged me further to reflect on the meaning of life and how my own experiences abroad have shaped my worldview.
Regina's stories about living abroad make you feel just like you are on the adventures with her . . .
Among the more appealing aspects of this book to me is her willingness to look at her own flaws as an American overseas.
I ate this book up . . .
This book has it all: adventure, love, and The Meaning of Life!
Marry Me Stop
Miriam was never one to decline an adventure. Even at the age of seventy-eight and suffering from dementia, when asked if she would like to join her daughter’s family at their Foreign Service post in Bangladesh, she was still up for the challenge.
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In Marry Me Stop, author Regina Landor honors her mother’s life with a biography in two parts: “Then” and “Now.”
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The first part tells of how Miriam grew up during the Depression in a home so awful that, out of ten children, she was the only one who didn’t run away. Yet, she went on to live a full life, sailing across the ocean on her own and working in Europe before marrying and raising three children in the United States.
The second part chronicles Miriam’s slide into mental illness, her experiences in a series of retirement homes, and finally, her time in Bangladesh—a land that honors the elderly.
Regina describes the raw realities of caring for someone with dementia, capturing the challenges, frustration, and embarrassment as well as the humor and gratitude that her family has felt for the wonderful opportunity to be present with Miriam in her final stage of life.
Acclaim for
Marry Me Stop
I loved reading the honest truth spelled out by Regina and the struggles a family endures when trying to take care of their elderly mother - while raising a family of her own in a third world country.
The book is written with such an honest and sincere voice and tells a story of such courage, it inspires one to be better in one’s own life.
. . . she has written a profoundly moving story of love, hope, courage, and adventure. It’s a real page turner, too. I couldn’t put it down.
Her admission of her self-perceived shortcomings in caring for her mother as her mother declines resonate deeply for anyone with an aging parent.
Regina has not only captured her mother's essence, but the core of what it means to be a woman: straddling often contradictory roles as brave adventurer, daughter, sister, wife and mother, professional, breadwinner, grandmother and finally, dependent.
A wonderful read for anyone who has a mother.
