Who Will Accompany You?

My Mother-Daughter Journeys Far from Home and Close to the Heart

By: Meg Stafford, Kate Stafford - contributor, Gale Stafford - contributor

Narrated by: Laura Copland

Award-winning memoirist Meg Stafford has an adventurous spirit, and this time she takes us along for the ride. When her daughters venture into terra incognita—one of them meditating in the Himalayas and the other negotiating with the Colombian military—Stafford decides to go too. In the process, she reflects on her own lifetime of wanderlust and what it means for a parent to love and to let go. Generous, insightful, and deeply funny, Stafford is the ideal tour guide for a journey as big as the world and as intimate as the human heart.

©2022 Meg Stafford (P)2022 Greenleaf Book Group

Critic reviews

“So profoundly moving, so beautifully crafted, so brave . . . A story about being true to oneself. Stafford brings all of herself to the reader as she shares her fears, doubts, triumphs, excitement, and love of life. This book is 100% authentic—because it is so human, so real.”—Susan Frankl, MD, Harvard Medical School

“A road map for parenting adventurous adults . . . Stafford asks all the right questions: Where are we headed in life? Who will come with us on the journey? How do we hold our children close while allowing them the freedom to grow? The most touching part: She doesn’t hide the struggle as she tries (with love and curiosity and humor) to find the answers.”—Fran Booth, LICSW, trainer, Internal Family Systems

Excellent listen!

Who Will Accompany You is beautifully written and made me reflect on so many things! As a parent myself, but of slightly younger children, it was so compelling listening to both Meg’s reflections as well as hearing her daughters’. I was reminded of that scene in Finding Nemo, where Marlon says he promised he would never let anything happen to Nemo, but Dory remarks that that’s “a funny thing to promise… Then nothing would ever happen to him. Not much fun...” The book is a rich portrayal of the “Dory” approach in action: how it is both simultaneously terrifying and wonderful to give your children the space to grow into independent people. It made me think about my own children, especially my teenager, in new ways. And having not traveled much in recent years due to the pandemic, and so much of our previous travel with our children being somewhat “entertainment” travel (amusement parks, beach resorts, skiing), it was such a powerful reminder of the profound experiences of immersing yourself in a new place and opening yourself up to every nuance of the experience: listening to people’s stories, trying new foods, all the ways you take yourself out of your own comfort zone. Meg writes with cultural humility and a true appreciation for the places, people, histories, and cultures, and yet also includes a healthy dose of humor! This was a was a refreshing change from the “Instagram-worthy” travel lens in the age of social media. This book will stick with me for a long time!