I never know what to say in these things ...
First off, I am a 25 year old female (depending on when you read this - I was born in 1976). I was born and raised in Australia and I grew up in a country town called Kadina, population of somewhere between 3500 and 6000 - depending on where you get your info from.
|
Click on the map to see a closer look and some info about where I grew up.
(It will open a new window) |
Mom + Dad + 2 Brothers + Me = my extremely "dysfunctional" family. =D
(Glad I can smile about it sometimes now I suppose ...). My mom moved us away from my dad when I was 6, and we lived in another town for two years, until my parents got back together and we moved back in with my dad.
I moved out of home when I was 18 and lived with friends for a while, and then moved to an actual city, Adelaide (capital of South Australia - population one million plus), about a year later. While living in Adelaide I had my first taste of psych wards and psychiatrists. I was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder and Paranoid Delusions (and then some) when I was 20. Never got much into therapy or meds first off, especially when it was a bi-weekly injection in the butt. Didn't understand a thing about BPD until about a year later when I bought a computer and discovered the 'net. I searched and read everything I could find on BPD. Eventually *I* started to make sense to me. Still, didn't know what to do about it really ... so, the whole BPD thing slipped to the back of my mind and I just knew it was there but didn't deal with it.
At the end of 1997 when I was 21 I met a very charming and sweet 22 year old guy in a chatroom. Lots of conversations and time spent together led to feelings developing. Of course, the problem was that he lived in the USA, and I lived in Australia. Now, call me impulsive, but I made a choice one night that I was going to fly to the US and live there. There were a few reasons I wanted to do it, some of them really aren't anybody elses business but my own, but basically it was a combination of desperately craving a 'new start' for my life, and also wanting to meet this mystery-man that I had ended up spending so much time with in Cyber-Land.
In July of 1998, without telling any other person in Australia including family or friends, I packed the entire 22 years of my life into two suitcases, got on a plane and flew to the US. And I'm still here. I met Brandon (that sweet, charming mystery-man), and we got along great. At first I lived in Portland with a friend I also knew off the 'net for about two months, then Brandon and I moved in with two people in the Seattle area that we both had met on the 'net. We got married in October of 1998, three months after I got to the US, and at the end of 1998 Brandon and I moved into our own apartment, still in the Seattle area, and we're still here.
Four weeks after I got to the US my mom died of breast cancer, which had returned a week after I left Australia. I didn't know she was sick when I left, otherwise I wouldn't have. Well, I found out she'd died after the funeral and all that, and I haven't been back to Australia since I found out. (If anyone wants to send me $$$ so I can visit my mom's grave for the first time, I'd appreciate that a lot. =D )
I celebrated my one year anniversary of being in DBT on 5/21/00, and I've been on meds for 11 months. A lot more to say about this part, but if you can wait, I will tell.
Anyways, that sounds like an extremely brief bio of my life so far ... this part will be updated and stuff as things develop and change, so check back if you want to know more about me.
