Who am I? Well, that's a bit of a loaded question isn't it. Are you sure you really want to know? Am I sure that I even know who I am?
My name is Sally, and I was born in Surrey, England, in 1976. When I was nine my family moved to North Yorkshire, where they have remained ever since. I had an okay growing-up time, I guess. I mean, it could have been a lot worse, even if I could have done without some of the stuff that happened. I didn't care much for sports at school, but wasn't particularly brainy either. My friends were members of the Christian Union and that was okay by me. Whoever thinks that Christians don't know how to party should ask the non-Christians who hung around with us *g*
After secondary school, where I was encouraged to take another year in the sixth form - I refused - I attended college in Edinburgh, Scotland. Although I probably made a mistake in terms of choosing my degree course - I've never been able to apply any of it even though it was Communication Studies - the city itself is fantastic and I could have cheerfully stayed there. Edinburgh might be the capital of Scotland, but it has less of a city feel to it than Glasgow and that suited me fine. I did my shopping on Princes Street on a regular basis. I loved going into town. The nightlife was decent as well.
So what stopped me from staying in Edinburgh? In 1996 I met Heath, an American exchange student from Pennsylvania. Two years after meeting, just after I completed my degree, I moved to the United States and we married in a white clapboard church in his very small hometown.
Six months after moving to PA we moved to Baltimore, Maryland. It was there that we bought our first computer and I began to explore the Internet. The first time I met people online was when I joined the Star Wars group, Club Jade. Thanks to Yav, with whom I first made contact, I was made welcome in the chats.
Now, I'm actually lying when I say Club Jade was my first online experience - that was just my first experience of group chats and fandom based around something fictional. Back in 1997, I began to hear the music of a country singer called Kathy Mattea. Something about the song 'Love Travels' spoke to me and I lept on it. I joined an online group called Kathys-Clowns and in August of 1998, this woman took her life in her hands and attended a concert in Aberdeen with a few of the UK contingent of fans. Oh yes, and a lovely American lady by the name of Peggy was there as well. I had a great time and the added bonus was getting to meet Kathy afterwards. That was not something I'd expected. I'd been to many concerts before and it had never crossed my mind about meeting the act afterwards. I mean, that was such a 'groupie' thing to do *g* Anyway, my interest in the singer grew and I've now been to several of her concerts - including three this year. (Think that's amazing? There's people who've attended over a hundred of her shows. One of them became her fan club president!) My email name comes from Kathy. Okay, not her personally, but one of her fans gave me that nick online when I muttered about having such an ordinary username!
Some of you are now thinking, "but I thought her username was Matt?" Know how many Sally's there are in fandom? Yeah, there's probably several Matt's as well, but none that I've come across in the fandoms I'm involved with. Matt is obviously an abbreviation of 'matteabrit.' I went by Matteabrit for a while, but, well... one syllable is easier than four! I've still got some things set up as matteabrit, such as this site. Let's just say it suits my multiple personalities very well ;)
Okay, back to the timeline. In 2000 we moved back to Pennsylvania and lived there for a little over 2 years. I met some of my closest friends during this time - three online and one in the office behind me at work! I attended conventions, went to concerts and life was good. Oh yeah, and once I got my driver's license I was lethal! Just before moving I visited one of my online friends, a wonderful young lady by the name of SaRa, over in eastern PA, and Beth and her family in West Virginia. I love driving. The only friend I've not met yet is Jo, and that's only because she lives in Portsmouth, England!
We moved to Arizona in September of 2002, and in doing so I had to give up a great part-time job at a branch of Family Christian Stores. Part-time suited me fine, especially when I realised in June 2002 that I had a problem with caffeine. No wonder I'd been so stressed out at a full-time job. Turns out beer can be lethal to my stomach as well, so I'm not drinking much these days. Anyway, we moved to Arizona and for four months I didn't work. The good news is that I got a job in February 2003 at a wonderful company. Come on, one of the perks is a chair massage once a month!
Where life goes from here I'm not exactly sure. But there are always things to explore and discover. I suspect that we'll be moving from here within a couple of years, and where we'll move to is a complete mystery. But life is a mystery if you think about it :)