To Say One Million Times, Wow!

Essays on Awe, Faith, and Family from America’s Great Outdoors (and Some Hotel Rooms)

Sarah M. Wells

On a solo road trip west with her two teenage sons, a tent, and a stash of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches—her husband and daughter joining later—Sarah M. Wells set out in search of awe. She wanted to experience wonder. To say one million times, WOW. She wanted to be moved by the majestic, and she wanted her children to have the same chance. 

What unfolds is less a perfectly planned adventure than a series of quiet reckonings with life’s transitions: navigating motherhood as children edge toward adulthood, adjusting career ambition as long-COVID sets new limits, and exploring a growing desire for a more exciting life.

Written with honesty, warmth, and gentle humor, To Say One Million Times, Wow! takes readers from Indiana Dunes National Park to Chicago’s Cloud Gate (The Bean), across the plains to the Badlands, Yellowstone, Zion, Pikes Peak, and beyond. Wells reflects on what it means to keep rediscovering yourself—and the people you love most—while savoring the freedom and possibility found in following love’s unfolding path.

“Sarah Wells writes with absolute beauty and unusual clarity about matters of faith [and] human yearning.” —Dinty W. Moore, author of The Mindful Writer

“[Sarah’s writing] radiates an honesty, candor, and vulnerability I find not just compelling but refreshingly rare.” —Robert Atwan, series editor of The Best American Essays