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.