Gretel Patch Memoir

Repotted Mockup Cover

This is an AI-assisted mockup I created to help me visualize the end product. The theme of intentional repotting, rather than uprooting, is a central theme in my book.

“You should write a book,” they all said.

I am.

REPOTTED: A MOTHER’S PILGRIMAGE TO CULTIVATE HOME ANYWHERE Embracing the Hard and Beautiful to Love Deeper and Thrive is a book-length memoir, a personal narrative about my journey over the past two decades as a diplomat’s wife as I have mothered my four children across continents and cultures and created stability through faith and community to thrive literally anywhere.

I invite faith-filled parents, expatriates, and adventurers near and far to shake up any archaic notions of home and reconnect with our global human family. Through demonstrated themes of resilience, connection, and transformation, REPOTTED captures the heart of placemaking and examines the stories we pass down.

As I noted in a recent Substack post:

“When I started writing my memoir just before COVID brought the world to a halt, I intended to share my journey of raising children in various countries. Inspired to capture stories that might be lost if I didn’t tell them, I wanted my children to know not only their stories but mine…As I wrote and researched, spaced and returned, took classes and received feedback from professionals, a clear framework emerged. Constructing its deep-rooted footings, reinforcing joists, and stabilizing trusses worked up a sweat. From the initial blueprints and scaffolding, the protective sheathing covering my idea began to take shape. I just wasn’t sure if it could bear the weight of a message that was never meant to remain within those four walls.”

I believe in my message and I will it get out there, one way or another. My manuscript is about 85% complete and I am in the process of querying agents and editors.

An expert on intentional repotting and foraging the unknown, I use the centering yet daunting ordinary rituals of family life in diverse places to prove that home is hard and beautiful anywhere because it isn’t about the place. My unique perspective is largely unparalleled and untold, and will resonate with all who yearn to cultivate the essence of home, whatever that looks like.