About

Hi! I’m Marilyn…

I’m a public health nurse and writer who lives between worlds, but mostly in Boston.

I was raised in the country of Pakistan, gave birth to five children on three continents and then moved on to raise them in Pakistan, Egypt, and the United States. I’ve lived in 35 houses, 4 countries, and 5 states and right now I long to find that space where I can create memories for my expanding family.

Moving to the United States proved to be the most difficult move I have ever made. For a long time, my cross-cultural and international roots remained silent as I struggled to connect and fit into my passport country.

I began writing in 2011 after participating in a humanitarian aid trip to Pakistan. Revisiting my childhood home and working in this relief effort awakened a long dormant desire to communicate what it was to live between worlds. My writing and speaking come from a place of knowing what it means to live between.

I work as a public health nurse in Boston, MA and have participated in humanitarian relief trips to Pakistan, Iraq, Jordan, and Lebanon. I love my passport, my family, and my faith in reverse order. My favorite activity is finding spaces in coffee shops around the world to write and observe life around me.

Communicating Across Boundaries

has a small niche in a big, wide, interconnected world. It is a blog where topics range from thoughts on culture, third culture kids, faith, and communicating cross culturally to occasional rants about injustice and policies that hurt refugees and immigrants. I love, love, love hearing from readers. It brings me incredible joy that you read my words and take time to reach out to me!