Who is Fletch?

Hi there! I think it’s fun to get a glimpse of the person behind a website, so let me introduce myself. You will find the real me hidden in the blog posts and podcast episodes, but here’s a brief intro to get us started.

I like to be called Fletch. My parents named me Andy (Andrew actually) and some people call me the MangoMan. Hey! I think someone wrote a song about that? 

I’ve been married to Kendra for over 30 years, and every morning I wake up wondering how a guy who looks like Shrek landed such a smart and gorgeous wife. God has been ridiculously good to “this short fat kid from San Jose.” Together, we’ve raised eight amazing kids (yes, 8—or VIII for any Romans reading this), plus one incredible daughter-in-law, two stellar sons-in-law, and three adorable grandchildren.

By day, I’m a dentist. My dad loves to remind people that working four days a week with 52 Fridays off a year "is hardly a full-time job." The rest of the time, you can find me hiking the hills, sampling new pipe tobacco, walking our dogs, riding motorcycles, or watching Kendra toss another piece of my beloved tie-dye wardrobe into the donation pile.

At the center of who I am and a lot of what I write about here on theMangoTimes is my faith. For a long time I was lost in religion and found myself hanging out with people who often got their church panties in a bunch, instead of being good humans. I was also an unhealthy Type 3 - Achiever on the Enneagram (meaning that I focused too much on what I did in order to believe that God and others liked me). I simply forgot who I was in the process. 

The rest of who I am? You’ll pick that up along the way. We’re a family that loves good food, good music, travel, and lifelong learning. Thanks for stopping by theMangoTimes!

Need more details about who I am? Want to know why it’s called theMangoTimes? Pop over to theMangoTimes Blog or theMangoTimes Podcast you can read and listen to more than you want.