tamara

I am the oldest child (yes, I’m still a child at heart) of Christina and Dennis (Ritchie). I was born on March 24, 1969, in Prince George, BC. Actually, we were living in the little town of Burns Lake at the time, and I was born in the middle of a very cold snow storm. My early days in such a cold environment lead to a lifetime of seeking out warmth. I love the heat, and have vacationed in Mexico many times, including a 6 month RV trip in 1996 to the Baja (Cabo San Lucas).

We moved to Victoria, BC, when I was only 2 years old. I have lived here ever since. I was fortunate enough to be able to go to University and Law School in Victoria. I graduated from Law School in 1994 and have been practising since 1996. I do civil litigation (law suits) which means I am often in court. This is kind of ironic, as I hate speaking in public, was very shy growing up as a kid, and always sat in the back of the classroom in silence. I also dislike conflict. Currently, I am working for the Ministry of Attorney General of British Columbia, as litigation counsel. I have only been working there for one year - prior to that I worked in a private law firm. I really like my current job and I get to travel all over the Province. I also got to fly in an Air Tanker and drop fire retardant on a real forest fire! Not bad for a desk job.

I was married in 1996 to Doug Rogers, whom I had been dating since 1988. We separated in December 2002, and divorced in December 2004. We didn’t have any children, which is fortunate as it would have made things very complicated when our relationship ended. The end of that marriage turned out to be one of the best things that ever happened to me, as I have since met my current partner, Christopher Saunders, who is a wonderful person that I am absolutely in love with. Chris and I have been living together for almost 2 years now, and dating for almost 4 (we met shortly after I separated from Doug). We just added a new member to our household - Bruce. Bruce is a 10 week-old puppy. He’s a cross between a poodle and a pug (a “Pugapoo”), and looks like a little black teddy bear.

In my spare time (which I don’t have much of) I like to play ice hockey, mountain bike, ski, golf, belly dance, visit my niece Greta, workout at the gym, paint, read, do crafts, cook (I LOVE to cook!), snorkel, fish, and garden. I used to scuba dive a lot, but haven’t done that for years. I’ll probably take a refresher course and get back into it, but only when I’m travelling in warmer waters! I also briefly took up the art of tying flies for fly fishing, but I only do that once in awhile. My favourite past-time is travelling. I don’t get to do that as much as I’d like, but I do make it to Mexico every once-in-awhile. Now that I’m working for the government, I get more holidays so hopefully, I will be able to make it over to Sweden and Europe in a couple of years - FINALLY!!

My sisters were born in 1978 (Sarah) and 1980 (Amanda). When they were young, I was so jealous of them because they were such beautiful little girls - they had golden hair, blue eyes, pudgy cheeks and rosy lips. They were adorable! They have grown up to be wonderful young women, and I am proud of their accomplishments. Sarah is the best mom ever, and I’m sure Mandy will give her a run for that title when her baby is born! I’m glad to have them as sisters and friends.

I am truly blessed to have such a great family. There isn’t a cousin, aunt, niece or nephew, or even in-law, that I dislike or don’t respect. I think Grandma and Grandpa (Kurt and Marianne) deserve a lot of credit for raising and encouraging a family of individuals who, without exception, are kind, respectful, fun-loving, and not afraid to be themselves. Roly and Chris deserve some of the credit, too, of course!