She spent the wilderness years after graduation as a muleteer, itinerant farm worker and outdoor education instructor in New Mexico and Idaho, before she ended her westward trajectory in LA. Emily went back to university to finish her degree, taking classes in Sanskrit and Old English. She found that her education had equipped her to homeschool, so when motherhood fell to her lot, she embraced curriculum. She and her son spent several years in India and this meant global studies for him. He saw gold in this experience and majored in development economics.