Tag: life abroad
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We Had 12 Suitcases, 2 Kids, and One Dog. What Could Go Wrong? | Moving Overseas with a Service Dog
Originally published in August 2025. This was one of the last posts written before we actually understood what life in Ashgabat would become. Wheels Up: The Webster Crew Hits the Sky After months of planning and second-guessing every possible disaster, departure day finally arrived. The day. The one we’ve been prepping for, stressing over, and talking about…
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A Normal Tuesday in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan
The Questions Everyone Asks When I first began telling people we were moving to Ashgabat Turkmenistan, there were two reactions we received. Is that a country? Where is it? or They immediately imagine something mysterious and profoundly foreign while picturing the opening scene of Aladdin. Complete with sand dunes and magic lamps. If you’ve ever…
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The Parts We Don’t Post: Barely Surviving and yet Thriving
I sat with my daughter on the curb of the stairwell leading to the underground passage that would take us home. It was 9pm and the city was a rainbow of lights towering over us. We had just finished Turkmen trick-or-treating; we left early because she was overwhelmed by the noise, the people, by the event. She asked me, “Mom, what are we doing,…
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Thailand Was Hard. I’d Do It Again Tomorrow.
What happened when life was falling apart and we went anyway I had our Thailand trip booked for months. The flights were coordinated and book. Hotels were researches and reserved. My mom’s ticket from U.S. lined up just right to meet me in the airport in Bangkok. Appointments confirmed. Everything was prepped and ready. This…
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I Got Quiet While Life Got Loud
It was February when I closed my laptop.Then, somewhere between deadlines, parenting, travel, work, school, and life doing what life does, I got quiet. Not because I had nothing to say.Because I had too much to process. Silence sounds different to different ears. Some assume that silence means nothing is happening. Others assume failure or…
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The Epstein Files and the Human Cost of Knowing
The Scroll That Doesn’t End Lately, my nights all seem to end the same way. A bath at the end of a long day to truly sink into my favorite act—dissociating from the work day. My preferred method involves a glass of wine, bubbles that rise past my ears and an exercise routine for my…
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Returning to School While Living Abroad: Starting My Master’s Overseas
T-minus 4 days. In four days I will be adding yet another spinning plate to my growing collection. My Master’s in Special Education classes start next week and I don’t know that I’m ready. I am certainly not excited — only filled with a slow dread about the added responsibilities ahead. One of them is…
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Raising Kids Far From Home
Before we moved, I spent a lot of time bracing for the beginning. Not for logistics exactly—we handled those—but for the emotional fallout I was sure would come with upheaval. I rehearsed the hard moments in advance. The dysregulation. The overwhelm. The ways this might land too heavily on our family, especially on the kids.…
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In the In-Between
Welcome back, friends. I hope I can call you that now — because if you’re still here, you’re invested. This season has lived in the space in-between—between breaks, plans, countries, and versions of ourselves. The stretch between fall break and winter break is a no-man’s land. You take a deep breath, lower your expectations, and hold…