Spotlight on Wendy L
What Are Some Highlights of your Fitness Journey?
As I reach a milestone birthday this year, I realize how very lucky I am to have been dancing at PulsePDX for 10 years! I wasn’t able to take dance lessons as a child as I was told my body shape did not fit that of a dancer’s. Instead, I was enrolled in piano lessons which were upstairs from the dance studio. I’m grateful to my parents for those piano lessons as I learned the fundamentals of music and did get to dance later…in high school and college musicals. We moved to the US from Taiwan when I was six. As you can see, even back in Taiwan I loved group fitness activities and being on stage (I got to be the butterfly in our kindergarten play).
There wasn’t much time for fitness during med school, residency, and then working in a practice and raising the kids, but as I got close to being an empty nester, I got to think about it again.
How Did you Find PulsePDX?
Thanks to carpooling with Jennifer to Jefferson Dancer rehearsals for our daughters, I learned about Zumba. Jennifer did a Zumbathon fundraiser for us and I was hooked! It’s been so fun to watch PulsePDX come into being, to follow all the teachers, and become part of our wonderful community. Jennifer, Julio, Heath, Josh, Angie, Danny, Donnie, Mercedes, George, Kimo, Antonio, Fernando, Pam, Meli, Ginny, Eva, Nick, you are all so talented, unique, supportive and fun! Marika and Megan, I will make it to your class soon!
What is you Favorite Thing About PulsePDX?
Rock the Boat, Men of Zumba, Karaoke night at PulsePDX, we truly have such a magical place to be together. We’ve also celebrated birthdays there, celebrations of life and have watched couples fall in love and become a family through PulsePDX. I love that I was able to give Quinlan, who I once drove in carpool, a bottle of wine that my husband made when she turned 21. This was after taking her Zumba class, which always kicks my butt.
I love that I’ve gotten advice about how to start running, health issues, how to be comfortable in high heels (thanks, Danny!), you name it. I can always get a hug and advice on anything really, AND I get to learn about the most recent musical artists, learn new lyrics to dance to, and challenge my brain with new choreography. All of this in one place, amazing!
What Do You Do When You Aren’t Dancing With Us?
When I’m not dancing, I’m taking care of kids and families as a general pediatrician, recruiting new doctors for our department, helping my husband at our hobby vineyard (well actually watching him work), walking our dogs, playing the ukulele, piano and saxophone, and crocheting. My favorite part of the week is getting to dance with my PulsePDX family. Thank you, Jennifer, for creating such a beautiful place where we can take care of ourselves and each other.
