How did you start playing the harp?

This is a question that comes up regularly.  When I was 12 years old I was in a local music store looking for music for my cello.  I saw a little folk harp and fell in love with it.  It was a Dusty Strings FH-26.  It was love at first sight.  In the same month I heard a local harpist play at the public library and asked if she gave private lessons.  I was lucky enough to have supportive parents that let me pursue this beautiful instrument.  I cleaned out my own saving account (where I had been saving birthday money and every penny I had earned for my short 12 years) and purchased that little harp.  The rest is history!