Prologue

I came home from Angola with my life intact. My family survived—and so did I. But how were we supposed to move forward? We had four children, a house we could hardly keep, and I had no job. The future rose before us like a steep hill.

Friends opened a way. Through them I joined Egen Vinding & Datter—one of Denmark’s first eco-minded building firms, long before sustainability was fashionable. I became a true jack-of-all-trades: tearing down and building up, leading projects, drafting planning applications, acquiring properties, and helping to develop green materials. It was a new beginning—another door to the world swung open.

Then Cupid’s arrow came, and it did not land gently. I was unfaithful to my wife, and the consequences sent shockwaves through our lives. It wasn’t a romantic turn; it was a rupture. Yet we didn’t let go of each other’s hands. We fought our way through.

We sold the house and everything familiar. With our two youngest children we leapt to the far side of the world, determined to find a new way to be a family—a new life off the beaten path.

This is the story of a life that never ran in a straight line: missteps, reckonings, and fresh starts; a life where adventure and abyss stand side by side—and where nothing is entirely ordinary.