Jumping the Picket Fence

Book excerpt: Lydia Dean finds herself at the top of her game professionally, yet on the verge of an emotional breakdown. Quitting her job and convincing her husband John to join her on a more meaningful path, the family takes a leap of faith, trading their American lifestyle for a more simple one nestled in a quiet village in the South of France. We live alongside Lydia and John as they tend grape vines, renovate a stone house, build a villa rental business and raise a family in Provence. Reconnecting with her early childhood dreams of humanitarian work, Lydia's adventures then take her further from the comforts of home as the young family travels extensively to areas lacking access to education and opportunity. Join Lydia on an inspirational path around the world-into shelters for children across India, through the jungles and back roads of Costa Rica, Southeast Asia and Venezuela, and to China where the Deans adopt their third child. Motivated by the simple ideal that small personal actions can make a difference, the family returns to the US where Lydia and a passionate team build a non-profit organization-GoPhilanthropic, supporting vulnerable women and children. From magical and entertaining to painfully raw and unsettling, this beautifully balanced mixture of travel memoir, soul searching, and motherhood shows us how to put fear aside, peel away all that insulates us, and listen to our inner selves. The book ultimately becomes less about what the author has done in her own life and more about what each of us can do to explore our own dreams and jump our own fences.