Pamela Hull

Eating fresh figs and a wedge of cheese, Pamela Hull sat on the edge of Bernini's fountain of the Four Rivers in the Piazza Navona in Rome, marveling once again on how she came to be here. Just over sixty, her husband, a solo ob-gyn physician, had died three years earlier and they had hardly ever traveled abroad. And yet, here she was, living alone for two months in an ancient palazzo, eagerly writing stories of encounters and observations. "All of it feeling like a dream, and perhaps it was, entirely of my own making," she recounts, "conceiving and executing the trip without an ounce of input from anyone."

Friends were protective - going alone? What if she got into trouble, needed help? Family admonished - she really shouldn't, best to go on a tour or with a friend.

Massachusetts born and bred in a charming old New England town, Ms. Hull attended boarding school, Dana Hall, in Wellesley, Mass. From there to the Univ. of Penn. and then into the arms of a sublime 36-year marriage that ended in pancreatic cancer for her husband, and a new, unwelcome freedom for her. What next? Continue on with a successful career as an interior designer and painter - or try something different?

She boldly took advantage of an unusual opportunity to live abroad for two months, an event which utterly changed her life, as she moved out of her comfort zone to find what was beyond her known abilities. What could she become with other choices, other opportunities? Now was the time to find out.

Almost at once, she wrote her first book, "Where's My Bride?" a memoir of a marriage. Then a fictional autobiography, "Dandelions Endure." Many of her essays were published in highly acclaimed journals such as The Bellevue Literary Review (honorable mention for nonfiction in yearly contest), Ars Medica, North Dakota Quarterly, Lumina, Blood and Thunder, and others. And then, "SAY YES! Flying Solo After Sixty," her current release, an unfurling of how expanding one's life beyond what is safe and habitual can be thrilling, satisfying, and pleasurable from anything previously known or experienced. Anyone, whether married or single, young or old, can find herself/himself pursuing a new passion, living new adventures, or eating figs by a fountain in the Piazza Navona. Read and see how.