I’m a widowed mom of 2, neurodivergent, Pisces, Enneagram 2, EINFJ (yes that’s a thing), Swiftie, Event Planner, Public Relations Consultant, Content Creator, Former Floridian, Recovering Republican, Passport on the Ready Writer and I’m glad you “Found” Me!

As of 2025, I’m currently an Expat exploring life with my 7 year old son living in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. He’s attending an international school and we will be here for the remainder of the school year.

After watching the decline of the United States over the last decade and then becoming a widow in 2021, my eyes were opened wide to the reality that life in the United States no longer serves my little family.

Between the rising costs on basic commodities like housing, car insurance, healthcare and groceries coupled with the asinine notion of “hustle culture”, there was no way for a single income solo parent household to do anything but struggle in that life.

So after many months (years actually) of research on international life, living abroad with kids, and looking deeply into other cultures we said Adios Florida, Hola Mexico!

The life we are living here is nothing short of a dream, this is the type of life I want for us in this season and I can’t wait to share it all with you. Life moves slower here, interactions are intentional and kind, there’s an unspoken air of gratefulness and equality between everyone. It’s like people here realize life is a journey, not just a dash.

As I said earlier, welcome to my next Chapter which probably leaves you asking what happened in the other Chapters? How do I (the reader) get caught up?

That is a great question and I’m so glad you asked!

I’m a lifelong Floridian. My Dad worked for the Florida State Park system and my childhood was actually spent living inside state parks all across the beautiful state of Florida. After a few moves when I was younger our family settled in Crystal River, Florida - home of the West Indian Manatee. (There’s going to be A LOT of manatees in the previous chapters, there’s even a hippo too!)

Crystal River is a small town on the Gulf coast of Florida about 90 minutes north of Tampa. For decades I was in love with that place. It served me well in childhood in the 90s and was my launching pad to college at Florida State University. I spent my college days in Tallahassee working in the State Capitol, my nights bartending and earned my degree in Political Science, Public Administration & History.

After college I took a job on the Bush Cheney Presidential campaign in Jacksonville, Florida which led to a decently successful political campaign consultant career in North Florida for several years.

In 2005, I became a mom for the first time.

Five years after college I was still enamored with my hometown so I moved back home taking a public relations job with our local Chamber of Commerce. I was a single mom with a 3 year old daughter in tow and it was one of the happiest chapters in the Book, until it wasn’t…but let’s not jump too far ahead.

That job with the Chamber was the beginning of a 15 year long rollercoaster of a career in local government & politics. It was a helluva ride. The treasure trove of stories I have from that Chapter probably will end up being a best seller, I can assure you.

There’s another Chapter in my story, it’s a heavy one. Maybe it was the Chapter that was supposed to break me, The Widow Chapter. It came right after the small town girl fell in love and thought she was getting her fairytale ending Chapter. Ooof. Those were some hard ones.

Oh and just to clarify, there is definitely a chapter (or 5) about how the small town conservative girl left the Republican Party in 2016.

You can expect to hear about a couple of chapters on friendship betrayals, finding your people amidst loss and turmoil, and my relationship with a guy I’m quite fond of - his name is Jesus. His Dad, organized religion and I have a complicated relationship; that’s likely a novel of its own. There’s also the Caterpillar & Butterfly Chapter, those little creatures healed me.

One of the more recent Chapters is what I call the Great Divorce; when I realized the people, places and values in my small town no longer aligned with the values and goals I had for myself. Saying goodbye to the life I lived for forty years didn’t come without a lot of soul searching.

Chapter 2024 was an interesting one, I took a year off of publishing one single thing I wrote. I wrote 300 things though. There were a few curveballs in 2024 that I haven’t even fully processed but you can believe it’s all about to come out. Mention it all!, right?

And that’s how we got to this Chapter - Expat Life in Mexico. So far this Chapter, it’s been the easiest ride, you’re going to ooze with jealousy when you see how soft (and affordable) life can be outside of the United States.

From winning my first essay contest in 2nd grade to this very minute - I’ve been writing. No matter how lost I ever feel, I’ve always ‘found myself’ in words.

My name is Meredith and I’m a writer.

Hope you stick around to check out the chapters of my life; I’m so glad you’re here!

Hey Y’all! I’m Meredith and welcome to my next Chapter!