Don't Pee in the Wetsuit

A Worldwide Romp Through Grief, Laughter and Forgiveness

I watched live coverage of a multi-car accident for an entire day before recognizing my father’s Chevy pickup pinned between two semi-trucks. A television news reporter at the time, I narrowly avoided being assigned to cover the collision that killed my father. Suddenly a part of the news I’d reported on for years, I longed to run away from broadcasting, my life, and looped images of my father’s body underneath a yellow tarp.

Blending grief with adventure, Don’t Pee in the Wetsuit is the story of my attempt to sift through an unresolved relationship with my dad on a six-month trip around the world. Gallivanting through eleven countries with a best friend, I lose my clothes in Costa Rica, swim with bull sharks in Australia, get scolded for peeing in my wetsuit on a cave tour in New Zealand, and overindulge on food, wine, and foreign men. Writing on the road, I struggle to forgive my father’s shortcomings and make peace with his death.

PUBLISHED WORK AND PRESS

Interview with ABC 7’s Mid Day Live in San Francisco

MORE PUBLISHED WORK

You Don’t Have to Be an Alcoholic to Admit Drinking Hurts Your Life

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How I Healed After Heartbreaking Loss by Facing My Grief Through Writing

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Om a Yoga Failure

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"Don’t look for the remedy outside yourself.
You are the cure for your own sorrow."

- Rumi

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@mkennedywriter