How I Came to Jerusalem,
Discovered My Dreams ...

- and the Magic to Make Them Come True ...

Hi. I’m proud to be a Jerusalemite.

My name’s Myriam. That’s right – with a “y”. It’s the French spelling of the name – I was born in Brussels, Belgium. But since then, I’ve travelled pretty much all over the world.

After visiting almost every major city on this planet, I chose to live in Jerusalem. No other place in the world makes me feel this alive. And I make my living wandering about the city I love.

So many people have told me they’d love to visit – maybe even live – here. But they have neither the time or the money to make it happen.

Yes, those are real excuses. (I know what it’s like to be short of both money and time -just keep on reading!) But I strongly believe we can wade through adversity and make our dreams happen. If I could do it – so can you! How?


This is my story.

I loved to travel.

It was more than a hobby - almost everyone in my family was a travel professional. Our family reunions could pass for an IATA convention (airline execs, flight attendants, travel agents – you name it!) By the time my first child was born, I’d lived in 15 different countries and traveled through countless more. I figured I knew all there was to know about being a savvy traveler – squeezing all I could out of a place … and moving on to the next.


Until I got to Jerusalem.

Something weird happened. When it came time to leave, I couldn’t let go. I stood in a garden overlooking the city and for the first time in my life I felt I was home. I didn’t know what was wrong with me!

It was actually very simple – I fell in love with Jerusalem. Its stones, its air … its buses…its history…its spirituality … the down-to-earthness of its people. This is where I wanted to raise a family – where the things that really matter are what matters.

But I had commitments elsewhere, and I had to tear myself away. The only way I was able to do it was by promising myself I come back here to live. In the years that followed, I came back as often as I could, but never long enough.

Finally, after many years of planning and dreaming, my husband and I made Jerusalem our home.

Only the dream didn’t turn out quite the way I’d dreamt it ...

Instead of walking through Jerusalem’s alleys teaching my children about their heritage and Jerusalem history and letting them romp in the forest, I suddenly found myself a single mom, harried just to make ends meet.

And as for my dreams of being a writer – well, those I’d had to give up after my first novel was published. People I knew kept asking me for a sequel. Please – what a joke! When could I possibly write? I’d collapse into bed at 2 a.m. and wonder … where did the magic go? 

One night, I decided I just was not going to let it pass us by.  I went back to my first professional love – writing – and to my family roots – the travel industry.

We’d hosted so many visiting friends and family from abroad that one day I thought, why not share our love of Jerusalem with a wider audience … and spread the magic?

That’s how the idea for this website was born.

The idea was great, but I didn't know anything about how to build a website. In fact lots of people tried to convince me to get into blogging instead. But after much research, I found that many successful websites I knew had one thing in common - they used a company called Solo Build It to help them build their site. I also determined that blogging was not the right choice for me (here's why a website was right and blogging wasn't.) So I got Solo Build It, which led me by the hand through the wonderful journey of building this site.

And that’s how come my now-adult kids and I keep rediscovering our hometown, while I can legitimately claim I’m working, too, researching the next article for this site. Although, to be honest, it feels more like playing …

And yes, we sure got the magic back!


P.S. Click here to find out more about Solo Build It and how you, too, can build a website that can help you get your magic back.