A monthly look behind the stories in Embassy Kid: An American Foreign Service Family Memoir, and the view from my writing desk as I share the book. What I’m writing, reading, and watching. And, as always, a couple of closing pictures of Kumba, my rescue Lab and therapy dog.

More Photos From Jane’s Childhood: Images behind the pages of Embassy Kid

In the summer of 1966, the Amerson family moved to the United States for the first time. I was entering seventh grade.

After nearly a dozen years of playing the role of a professional American, I couldn’t wait to become a real live resident of my country. My sister and I argued about which chores we would take on–we’d be without household help for the first time in our lives. My mother looked on with a bemused smile. She knew that washing dishes would quickly lose its glamour.

My fascination with America sunk when I entered my suburban junior high school, as I realized that being new was a lot harder here than overseas where students came and went all the time. Speaking Spanish became a liability instead of an asset in the mono-cultural environment and I quickly took up French, never letting on how easily the language came to me.

Among the new traditions I stumbled into was school picture day: I had no idea that the photo would become an icon of the year, published for posterity in yet another new concept, the yearbook. You can bet I was better prepared by eighth grade!

Meeting With Embassy Kid Readers

I met lovely people at my local Barnes & Noble bookstore when I signed books for new readers on Saturday, May 2.

Among them was Sheyla, a young woman who’d just completed her tour as a Marine Security Guard at the American Embassy in Tokyo–she completely understood my background!

Another customer who became a quick friend was a woman who grew up as a military kid. She was unacquainted with the term Third Culture Kid but recognized herself in the challenge of having no home town. Tanga and I are pictured here in a photo posted on Instagram by @bn_wellington.

On Saturday, June 20 (11:00-4:00), I’m participating in the annual Read It Write It Wellington, joining not just a handful or two but sixty-seven 67!!! authors for a day of book signings, readings, and panels at the Mall at Wellington Green. If you’re local, stop by this free event: it would be lovely to see you and you can bet you’ll find a new book to take home, and then some.

On Saturday, June 27 (1:00-3:00), I’ll be at the Barnes & Noble store in nearby Coral Springs to sign books for friends I haven’t met yet. If you’re in the area, stop by!

What I’m Writing

Here is the log line for Amsterdam Strong: Becoming Unstoppable, my work-in-progress:

When an artery in your belly decides to spring a leak, you die. Unless you live to tell the story.

The story begins in 2019 with a two-week transatlantic cruise during which I unknowingly developed a small rupture in an undiagnosed abdominal aneurysm (a ballooning weak spot). I was emergency evacuated off the ship in Amsterdam. My heart stopped as I was rolled in OLVG Hospital, the remarkable place that saved my life that day and repeatedly as I lingered in the ICU for six long weeks. It took another six weeks in recovery to be able to stand and walk so that I could fly to Florida to begin my rehabilitation.

Among the startling things that I have learned in writing my story is how fast muscle is lost when the body is inert. I went from being a fitness trainer to being a fragile old lady unable to move in just six weeks. The ICU staff told me that had I not been super strong going in, I would not have had the fuel my body needed to stay live. I have learned that being in a coma is the equivalent of running a marathon.

Which is why my message to my readers is: exercise is life insurance. Ever since I woke up in that ICU, I have made it my business to devote sixty minutes every morning to moving my body. In 2019, that meant re-learning to walk. This January, I ran a 5K race. #exerciseislifeinsurance.

What I’m Reading

My friend (and former White House/Pentagon/Voice of America correspondent) Al Pessin has just published an incredibly timely political thriller ripped from today’s headlines: Body Man. Here is my five-star Amazon and Goodreads review:

“I’ve been a fan of Al Pessin’s superb writing since his Task Force Epsilon trilogy SANDBLAST, BLOWBACK, and SHOCK WAVE: believable characters, thrilling action, taut plot, exotic settings. With BODY MAN, Al has turned his masterful skills to contemporary America [read the rest of my review on Amazon]…”

What I’m Watching

My husband and I just finished the new Netflix supernatural sci-fi series The Boroughs, a show from the Duffer brothers who brought us Stranger Things.

With veteran actors including Geena Davis, Alfre Woodard and Alfred Molina, it delivers on a well-told story, although it’s shocking to have my contemporaries now old enough to play retirees! On the other hand, it’s a role I’ve been playing for some thirteen years, absent the supernatural other than, well, Florida.

Kumba’s Korner

When he is visiting with seniors at Elegance at Lake Worth, our rescue Lab and therapy dog, Kumba, sports his blue bandanna from the Alliance of Therapy Dogs.

But when we are celebrating a national holiday like Memorial Day, dapper Kumba wears his red-white-and-blue Stars and Stripes!