Shucks, I'm It

I'm not sure whether to feel relieved that I got picked to join the club (grade school social paranoia leaves deep wounds, apparently), or annoyed that I have to come up with five things to confess to the world about myself. In either event, thanks Chris, and here goes.

1) I'm the oldest of 4 kids – two younger brothers and a younger sister. I am a classic "first born" – high achieving, bossy, parent-pleasing, etc. I spent much of my childhood trying to keep the peace in my family, not realizing that my interventions were sometimes not helpful.

2) I battled with eating disorders throughout high school. If you know much about such things, you'll recognize that (as above), I fit the typical profile perfectly. I'm happy to be able to say that I now enjoy a pretty healthy relationship with both food, and with my body. It took many years to get to a place of honest balance, though, and I can see why lots of women never really find their way back.

3) Despite my passionate distaste for most things suburban, I was very much raised in the suburbs. In Alberta (equal time spent in Calgary and Edmonton). My childhood took place in safe, largely white neighbourhoods, playing in parks and ravines and walking to school unaccompanied and moving every few years to the next bigger house as my parents climbed the real estate ladder (and my dad was transferred between corporate offices in Alberta's two major cities).

4) I went to the University of Western Ontario for the first two years of my undergraduate degree. I had to purchase a whole new wardrobe to replace my suburban high school one, learn how to apply make-up, and learn the ways of the meat market bar scene. I learned that you shouldn't get really drunk and then naively assume that the nice boy who puts you in a cab to take you home safely doesn't have intentions you might not share. After two years at Western, I felt what can only be called a calling, and transfered quite spontaneously to the University of Victoria, which is about as different as you can get from Western, and where I promptly felt like I had come home.

5) Felicity is actually my middle name, and I have seriously contemplated making it the name that I use, since Sarah is so darn common. What do you think?

So there you go. Five things you probably didn't know about me (though maybe you did, depending on whether you actually know me in real life or not).

Karen, James, Jodie, Jon, Richard – you're it.