Wearing Wellies: A Year of Life & Love in London

When the author and his wife first met, life was a big blank canvas ready to be painted. After a trip down the aisle, the purchase of the first home together and the adoption of a dog to "test the waters" before wading into the pool of parenthood, life started to become more about to-do lists and conformity. Their big dreams together began to start with the phrase "Someday we will..." With time no longer on their side, "someday" became "today" when they decided to leave everything behind and move 3,963 miles to London, England, to learn more about the world, themselves, their marriage, and what can happen when you find the courage to take a chance and do something great. On the surface, Wearing Wellies: A Year of Life & Love in London is the story of chasing lifelong dreams of queuing for Wimbledon tickets, greeting friends with kisses on both cheeks, close and personal encounters with the Queen, weekend trips to Paris, Italian cooking schools, and walks through the Cotswolds while wearing wellie boots with a dog named Sydney. But the story is really about life-changing relationships that the author and his wife make along the way with new friends who did not dress like them, sound like them, or think like them.

Garrett Ellis Ryan is an interactive marketer by day, writer and artist by night, and a full-time father on the weekends. His wife, two kids, and beloved dog, Sydney, live in the Chicago suburbs. Ryan he is often seen cutting the lawn and watering the flowers while wearing his wellie boots.