The Far Porch: Journeys Beyond
This is where the road stretches far: to Kenya, to childhood, to places I once knew or only dreamed of. The Far Porch collects essays about travel, cross-cultural moments, and the profound growth that comes from leaving home—and returning. These are stories of service, loss, wonder, and the expanding of a life once firmly rooted in Georgia soil.
Priests on Tour
Before dawn in Kisumu, the Ruprahs’ home fills with Sikh priests, neighbors, prayers and music… and I find myself in the middle of it all, wearing a new Punjabi suit, wrestling with a slippery scarf and relying on Mrs. Ruprah to show me what to do next.
Paul & His Plastic-Bag Ball
Paul was a young boy who swept the dirt yard outside my bedroom window each morning. His broom was a bundle of sticks. We lived in the same house, but he slept in a shed out back, and climbed a tree to watch children his age play in the school yard behind out house. Naturally, I wanted to change all of that.
Priestly Boys
An ordinary lunch with my landlords in Kisumu, Kenya, becomes an afternoon with Sikh priests, warm Coke, pickled lemon, and an old harmonium. Plus a glimpse inside the Indian community that had welcomed me as one of its own.
Living on the Equator
Memories from my year in Kisumu, Kenya, are the ordinary sights, sounds and rituals that slowly became home. The everyday rhythms of equatorial Kenya included children's greetings, market stalls, roosters, and hand-washed laundry.
Prelude to a Life
At 40, with my children grown, I sold my home and flew to Kenya to live, work, and stretch my life wider. This is how my African journey began — and how it changed me.
Eric’s Funeral in Three Acts
A hard day in Seme, Kenya — a young man’s funeral that held sorrow, laughter, wailing, injustice, and the simple truth that grief always finds a way forward.
Regrets, I Have a Few
In Nyalenda’s slums, I learned how quickly hope can slip away — and how showing up, with open eyes and an open heart, is never as simple as it sounds.
Where Roads Cross & Promises Stick
A simple walk home in Kisumu turned into two promises — one to an enterprising market woman, another to a man helping street boys in the slum.
Kenya: Prologue to the Prologue
A raw reflection on grief, truth, and emotional unraveling during my time in Kenya. From tilting to clarity—this is how I found my way back.