Introduction

Dena was a midwife trapped on the hamster wheel of working motherhood. Adam was an eccentric yogi passing as a hard-working dad. Bella was fourteen and wanted to be normal. Sophia was ten and always up for missing school. Together, they shouldered backpacks, walked away from their California life, and criss-crossed India and Nepal for eight months.. From the banks of the Ganges to the Himalayan roof of the world, this memoir is an unforgettable adventure, a moving meditation on modern family life, and a spiritual quest, written with humor and honesty?and filled with love and awe.

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Excerpt

I limp behind Adam and the kids as the first drops fall.
“Girls!” I call out. “Put on your rain ponchos!”
We are on the third day of a trek, hiking a ridge at 10,000 feet in view of the Annapurna peaks. The Himalayan sun beat down on us a moment ago, but now the daylight turns dim yellow. I am groggy with exhaustion, so at first I think I am imagining the eerie twilight as it falls. “It's only noon,' I think, “Why is it getting dark?” I look up to see the granite mountains vanish behind a wall of black clouds. Thunder booms, and streaks of lightning lick the foothills behind us. ... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

1. Dena was a woman who by all appearances "had it all", yet suffered from anxiety, frustration, and dissatisfaction. What are the challenges she faced as a working mother and how did the nuclear family structure contribute to that? How did her work as a midwife contribute to that?

2.For the Moes family, the trip was not a "vacation" but a "pilgrimage". What is the meaning of pilgrimage and how did Dena and Adam make their family adventure into one?

3. India is a land of vibrant contradictions: rich spiritual and cultural traditions alongside grave socio-economic disparities. How did Dena and her family engage with these two very different aspects?

4. How do the diary entries of Bella and Sophia contribute to the overall narrative?

5. After meeting the Dalai Lama and studying in Dharamsala, Dena's perspective of her own privleged life changes. How so?

6. Dena decides to leave her husband - and then changes her mind. Why does she take him back and are they reasons enough to hold a marriage together?

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