I haven't always been the devoted fan I am today, it took some time. I was born in 1984 and as a result I grew up without any knowledge of Star Wars. My family showed little interest in science fiction, so there was not much chance of learning about it from my older siblings, born in 1968, 1971 and 1976.
So I remained deprived until 1995, when the youngest of my siblings, and only sister, started dating this guy who turned out to be quite a sci-fi fan. One weekend that year my sister and I were home alone, my parents were away for some reason I can't remember, probably connected to my father's work. Anyway, this weekend my sister's boyfriend showed up with all three Star Wars-movies on VHS. We watched A New Hope that Friday, The Empire Strikes Back on Saturday and Return of the Jedi on Sunday.
That is how my love for Star Wars began, and had I been born in a place with easier access to Star Wars-books, comics, etc. my story might have ended here. This, however, was not the case, and I heard next to nothing about Star Wars until 1997, but despite hearing about the Special Edition I never saw them.
I was finally reintroduced to the world of Star Wars in 1999, but perhaps not in the way you would expect. By this time Star Wars was a distant memory, and seeing as I have never been much of a movie-goer, I didn't go to see The Phantom Menace. I used some of the money I got for my confirmation to by some classic LucasArts-games, one of them was Dark Forces, which to this day is my favorite Star Wars-game. Still, I was not yet a complete fan, not until 2001.
That summer I stumbled upon TPM on VHS, and I thought "Hey, Star Wars is pretty cool", so I bought it. I saw it at least once a day for two weeks, and ceveral times in the following weeks, and I have been a fan ever since. I quickly became a member of starwars.com, and when TPM came out on DVD later that year I bought it despite not being able to play it. That problem was fixed when Christmas came, as I had already guessed, seeing as I rarely ask my parents for anything, I usually get what I do ask for. January 2002 I first saw the SE on Norwegian television, and you probably know what happened in May.
So there you have it, the story of how I became a fan. Today I am the greatest fan I know, and there has been a long time since I last met someone who knew anything about Star Wars I didn't. I'm looking forward to Celebration Europe, hope to see you there.