Me & My Mama Wife Doc Life
Hello! Muraho! I started this "blogging journey" back in 2012 mainly documenting my travels to Rwanda with Hope Shines, Inc. I wanted a way to connect the work Hope Shines was doing in Rwanda with my friends and family in the United States. My blogging was basically relegated to a few weeks every summer when I would battle the 'interwebs' of Iris Guest House in Kigali and recount my days and nights in Rwanda, a world away from home and my life as a Division I Sports Medicine Team Physician in Boulder, Colorado. Today I sit here a world away from those days as a Wife, a Mama to Mack and Mae, and a tenured Sports Medicine Doc with the Colorado Buffaloes.
Born in Fullerton, CA but I call OH-IO “home.” So I’m a Midwest Girl. I am a first generation “American Born Chinese” (AKA “ABC” as my dad likes to say). Dad was born in Guangzhou, China (Southern China) and Mom in Hong Kong. I have one younger brother, Jonathan. Dad practices Family Medicine in Columbus, Ohio, with a Geriatric “twist.” I was raised primarily by Dad when Mom passed away from Cancer when I was 9. Which is why Dad is AMAZING for raising TWO kids pretty much all by himself and definitely a role model to me in more ways than one!
I moved to Colorado in 2008 from Connecticut to start my career in Sports Medicine at the ripe, bold age of 31! I was FINALLY a "grown up" and had my first job! Shortly after moving to Denver I met Dan. Another Colorado transplant, growing up in Virginia, Dan was a "seasoned Coloradan" living here for nearly 10 years. We are a Match.com success story navigating a long distance relationship from Australia to China and finally landing back together here in Colorado. We got married in 2014 in Lake Tahoe. And some might say "the rest is history..." After several attempts our Mack Attack came into our lives on 10May2016 and less than 2 years later Mae Day BURST into our family on 13Feb2018 completing our family of FOUR (joining our 2 dogs and a cat!) So here I was a Sports Medicine Doc who suddenly found herself a Wife, a Mama and a Doc in less than 4 years.
#GladdensTravel is our motto and we continue to do so with 2 kids in tow. We call them "trips" and not "vacations" sometimes but we still plug on and want to get away. And what about those trips to Rwanda with Hope Shines? Yep we are still intimately involved as Dan is now the Executive Director of the non-profit so he makes the journey more than me these days but we still LOVE and cherish our "Home Away From Home" in Rwanda. So here I am blogging again about being a Mama, being a Wife and being a Doc and the adventures that come along with this journey I call "My Life!"