For those of you who are curious, "Ahmie" is short for "Ahmielleah," which is pronounced like the name "Amelia."  Ahmie is pronounced like the first part of Amelia (minus the Lia), not like the French word for friend, Ami.  And no, that is not the name my parents put on my birth certificate (though my mother did pay for the legal name change as a college graduation gift).  The name change is my one act of rebellion, considering what a joy I was to raise in all other respects *big innocent grin*.  My mom was happy about it, since my birth name was my father's idea and she had wanted to name me Amelia after Amelia Earhart anyway, and I have had a deep admiration and respect for Ms. Earhart all my life, so I took it.  I go by the name Ahmie because it sounds like the way my German grandmother (who passed away in 1993) pronounced "Amy" (my birth name) when she would slip into her German accent (she tried to pronounce it "properly" most of the time).  Somehow, "Ahmie" has always felt more comfortable than "Amy."  The name "Amy" always left me feeling like I was trying to squeeze my ample figure into a size 3 pair of jeans.... "Ahmie" fits me like a nice baggy pair of sweatpants.  Now if I could only find a job where I could always wear nice baggy pairs of sweatpants, life would be perfect *grin*.

In January of 1996 I began attending Case Western Reserve University, and soon thereafter met Garvin... I knew this one was a keeper within 2 weeks of our first kiss (on April Fool's Day, ironically), and if you want that story, you have to ask me for it *grin*.  Garvin would beat me ferociously with a fist full of wet noodles if I put it on the web!  Garvin is the most wonderful person I have ever met, and I completely adore him (even though he does get on my nerves sometimes - hey, who doesn't?  I know I give it right back to him in spades! *grin*).  We are the proud parents of a feline fur-baby, Artemis Ooo-Mau Yeung-Polak, who was born on January 22, 1997 and joined our family when she was 12 weeks old.  After the delays life threw in our way (namely, college - we both graduated from CWRU on May 16, 1999), we were wed on October 30, 1999 in front of friends, Garvin's family and most of my family.  Since Garvin's extended family was unable to attend (they are mostly in Canada), we had a second wedding reception in Toronto the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  

I was born in Cleveland, Ohio (for those of you who want to send me an email birthday card, the date was December 3, 1976) and grew up in Parma (a suburb). My parents divorced when I was very young. My father remarried and he and my stepmother have given me a wonderful "little" brother and sister. Mom decided she needed a change just as I was about to enter elementary school (North Star Elementary - a wonderful place!), so we moved to Thornton, Colorado (a suburb of Denver) and there we stayed until a year after she had my youngest brother (and her only other child), who is more than 12 years younger than me. We then moved back to Parma, Ohio, where I graduated from Parma Senior High School in 1995.  In high school I was active in the Girls' Show Choir (for those of you who have met me, this was before I started walking with a cane - the cane makes it a bit more difficult to do choreography!) and with the school literary magazine, The Shaman, of which I was Editor my junior and senior years - an experience I look back on fondly.

My current life involves trying to get my fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue under control, traveling to see family and friends, involvement in my church's Young Adults group DUULLES, and a budding involvement with the SCA - a historical reenactment group.  All of this while doing the other stuff on these web pages and occasionally substitute teaching for Loudoun County Public Schools (I've been taking a break while adjusting to some new meds and starting physical torture... err.. physical therapy).  

If there is anything else you could possibly want to know about me, you'll just have to ask :)

Ahmie