This is my first blog ever!  I never thought that my life would be interesting enough for other people to want to read about it!  Here goes…I hope I don’t bore you!

In a nutshell…within a six week time period, I did the three biggest things that you are not supposed to do.  We got married, I started a new job, and we bought our first home together in San Francisco - Ouch! I knew this would be a super stressful time in my life, but knew that things would be a little upside down for a while.  I’d bounce back, just as I always had before.  Little did I know what my life would have in store for me just five months later.

In April, 2008, my husband Chris (Matthew Chase) went to South Africa, joined by his best friend Casey, who was the best man in our wedding.  The highlight of their trip was shark diving off the coast of Cape Town, South Africa near Dyer Island.  Unfortunately, shark diving is what killed them both.  No, they were not actually attacked and eaten by sharks!  That has been everyone’s first question, so don’t worry if it was your thought as well.  I’m used to the questions by now.  They had just completed their dive, and were taking off their wetsuits when their boat was capsized by a freak rogue wave.  All nineteen people on the boat was thrown into the water.  Unfortunately, Chris and Casey were not found in time, and both drowned.

I found out online, not by the authorities.  Chris didn’t call as he promised he would, and he was a man of his word.  After several hours of nervous, frantic thoughts, I googled Cape Town, South Africa news.  Three people had been killed in a shark diving accident, including two Americans.  There was no way that it was my husband - He must just be out boozing it up after their dive, and forgotten to call me?  Unfortunately, I was wrong about that one, and Chris really had been killed.  Only five months after our wedding, weeks before our honeymoon.

What happened next, and how this ties in to Matthew Chase, his music and all that is going to happen in the future will have to wait for the next blog.  I’m not sure how much you are supposed to even write in a single posting!  As I mentioned, this is my first time doing this!