Back in June of 2017, our whole family flew to Scotland after a week in Iceland. We were dropping off my middle daughter for her semester abroad in Glasgow, with my youngest daughter and youngest son in tow. At the time, I was running full-time as a health and wellness coach and thought I’d finally left my own medical worries behind me.
Fast forward to September 2023. My husband and I were on our return trip to Scotland, flying from Savannah to Aberdeen, where we were met by my (now) dear friend Ann. Our hotel in Braemar, The Fife Arms was short on drivers and asked Ann to step in as a favor to help with some “American tourists.”
The plan, as laid out by the hotel’s Gillies, was tidy and well-ordered: sightseeing in Aberdeen, a stop at the Provost Skene House Museum, then lunch before driving out to Braemar. But tucked in my wallet was something that had been calling to me for months — a little blue Post-it note.
That Post-it was born out of a fevered summer night not long before. I was ill enough that I would be hospitalized the next day, but in the haze of fever and worry, I found myself trying to distract my thoughts by typing my family surname into a search bar. What I stumbled across stopped me in my tracks: a broken Airbnb listing from 2018 advertising a stay in a 14th-century castle once held by the Baron of Skene. Could there be a connection?
I scoured the internet, desperate for an address, and eventually uncovered a defunct website that offered a few tantalizing hints. I jotted down the GPS coordinates on a Post-it and stuck it to my computer monitor, where it sat like a dare. When the day finally came to leave for Scotland, I nearly forgot it. At the last minute, I dashed back inside, peeled it off the monitor, and shoved it into my wallet.
So, when Ann picked us up that morning, I boldly suggested we go “off plan” and swap museums for mystery. To her credit, she didn’t hesitate. Off we went, chasing directions, knocking on doors, and stopping locals along the way. One husband-and-wife team even warned us about the Wizard O’ Skene.
Wait, what?!
“Wizard, schmizard!”
That detour marked the start of a beautiful friendship with Ann — one that has continued to shape my journey. (Through her, I would later be introduced to Araminta Campbell the textile designer who created my family tartan.)
Spoiler alert: the wizard legend made its way into my first novel.
What we found at the end of that winding drive wasn’t just any old house. It was my family’s ancestral home. (But that’s a story for another time.)
And that little Post-it?
It marked the beginning of a journey that is still unfolding today.
