Married to Amazement

Kathleen Coskran | Ethiopia 1965–67, Peace Corps Writers, 2025

When Kathleen Coskran’s memoir kicks off by disclosing to her readers that she’s not just old, but old old (81 years), we can’t help but be drawn in by her humor and candor. She doesn’t claim to offer any pearls of wisdom, but instead offers up little snippets of wonder, glimpses of her extraordinary life experience. She offers us not pearls, but absolute gems. 

She opens with her first grand cross-cultural adventure, a crash course in amazement, when she accepts a Peace Corps assignment in 1965 teaching English and algebra in Ethiopia and confronts the uncomfortable revelations of American privilege as she steps into her new identity as a ferengi, a foreigner. 

Her time in Ethiopia kickstarts a life full of open-hearted service and courage. From the U.S. heartland to Kenya, Nepal, Colombia, Spain, China, and back again, Coskran leads us through adventures both large and small as she journeys to find meaning through vocation, pilgrimage, partnership, motherhood, and beyond. 

Each short story explores the dynamics of what it means to live in relationship with others. As a Montessori guide, she discovers how the roles of student and teacher can become interchangeable. As a mother, of both her own children and those she adopts from around the globe, she expands her understanding of family ties and how to belong to one another. Other facets of her identity are explored in ways that bring delight and heartbreak to the reader: spouse, daughter, sister, friend. Coskran’s stories remind us that whether we connect instantly, rub along together for many years, or engage in unceasing debate (such as her mother and her long-time hairdresser), we explore our world through communicating—and communing—with other human beings, and this exploration drives us deeper into the mystery of life. 

This is a stunner of a memoir. For those who enjoy short stories and poetry, this is a treasure you’ll find yourself turning to time and again. Married to Amazement is an affirmation of life, a font of pure wonder, 81 years in the making.