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BIOGRAPHY I was born on April 2nd, 1982 at 20:49 at Meadville Medical Center, Meadville, PA. Until I was four, we literally lived in the middle of the woods on a dirt road, and the nearest neighbors (aside from those across the street from us) were miles away. When I was four, my parents decided to move into a cozy little mobile home community, where they still reside today. I was as normal as any other red-headed child that was very tall for their age. At least my parents and I were convinced of this. At the age of 19 months, I stopped walking and crawling all together. The worry of my parents brought them to bring me to my doctor, where I was diagnosed with Juvinile Rheumatoid Arthritis. The disorder progressed to the point that by the time I was 9 I was in a wheelchair almost all the time. This continued until I was about 14, when the arthritis began to get better. I was still in the wheelchair for long distances, even into the first semester of my freshman year of college. Despite my disabilites, I tried to be as normal as possible. There were no other children my age where we lived, and I am an only child, so I had no social life besides our close friends of the family and their kids that lived in town. Dad has always worked second shift, so it has always been just mom and I on the weekdays. In the time I had to kill, I spent my whole days practicing piano, flute, and playing on the computer (our first computer was a Texas Instrument TI 99/2 in 1983 (which never made it to the shelves, but my grandpa got it free with a carpet purchase. Man, the 80's were cool), but the first one I really used actively was our Franklin ACE 500. When I was 14, I discovered I was a geek, but not the normal way most people in the world do. I was an organ geek. I began taking pipe organ lessons at 14, and by 15 I was a vast database of knowlege about the instrument. Use this, for example. I even attended Westminster Choir College's Organ Week for High School Students two years in a row in Princeton, NJ where I got to study under some of the best organists in the country. I also became great friends with other people exactly like me. To meet other young organ geeks made me feel less "nerdy" about being an organist, and more "geeky." We even termed the phrase "organ geeking," which is going out to churches and other places and playing organ and crawling around in the pipes. At least we thought it was fun. As much as I wanted to become a professional concert organist, I found it not to be practical. So, I decided to become a pastor (HA!). After spending a lot of time in campus ministry, area churches, and around some terrible pastors and pastors-to-be, I found that it was better just to drop back down to being a church organist again. I switched my majors from religion/philosophy to psychology/art. I will be graduating on May 8, 2004, and plan to go to grad school for professional counseling with a specialization in art therapy at Carlow College in Pittsburgh, PA. I've wanted to live in Pittsburgh my whole life, since my whole family is from there. I used to spend every weekend with my parents at my grandparent's house in Millvale. I have also made many friends from that area, thanks to my wonderful boyfriend, Dave, who also wants to reloacte to Pittsburgh after attending Duquesne for 4 years. Dave was my first serious boyfriend right after I came out of high school. Due to circumstances, we broke up for a year and a half without communication. In March of 2003, we got back together, and I couldn't ask for anyone more perfect for me. To be continued... MORE ABOUT ME Name: Jill Katherine
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