Amy Breen writes book about her family’s life in Spain

In Menlo Park resident Amy Breen’s mind, she was a physician who worked first in emergency medicine and then as a patient advocate. What she was not was a writer.

That began to change when she and her husband and three children moved to Spain.

They rented out their home here and headed for what they thought would be a year abroad. “We wanted an experience outside our known life,” she explains. “We chose Spain as its location made travel to other European countries easy.

“I started a private blog where I chronicled our adventures and misadventures. When we returned, I found I missed the creative process of writing. Plus I had all of this material.”

The result is the just-published book Tranquila: A Doctor-Mom Attempts the Slow Life.

The book chronicles her struggles as she transitions from a handle-it-all doctor and mother in the States to full-time parent who needs her kids to translate. The tranquilo way of life is Amy’s adversary — and then teacher.

“I didn’t handle the change well,” she says.  “I really struggled and had a lot of self doubt.
I was not the person I was used to being. It was a bit like a midlife crisis.”

Amy continues her work as patient advocate but writing stays on her mind. “I would love to write another book,” she says. “I found that a bit shocking after I finished the first book. But now I wonder:  Is there something more in me?”

Photo courtesy of Amy Breen