Hello I'm Rich Brown and this is my personal website and blog. I'm just your simple, average, down to earth, professional, out gay man and aspiring circuit boy, living in Phoenix, Arizona with a few things to say while trying to find my place among all the scary, conservative, religious nuts in this sick and twisted world.
Saturday, October 30, 2004
Back To Philadelphia For My Grandmothers Funeral
@IN-FLIGHT. Right now I’m sitting on United Flight 1501 on my way back to Phoenix from Philadelphia. On Saturday, while I was outside doing some yard work around the house, I received a phone call from my cousin Terry letting me know that my Grandmother had passed away earlier that morning. Not a very pleasant reason to return home, but I flew out to Philadelphia on Tuesday morning so that I could attend my Grandmothers funeral on Thursday. The flight in to Philadelphia had a brief layover in Chicago and was otherwise uneventful. Because my Mother does not really feel comfortable driving far, I had resolved that rather then try and find someone to pick me up at the airport I would just take the train out to my Mom’s. I was surprised at how convenient it was to catch a train from the airport to 30th Street Station and then transfer to another train out to my Mothers. It was about an 1.5 hour trip total. The train ride reminded me of taking CalTrain from San Francisco down to work in Redwood City. It was actually a very nice trip. Not having been back to the Philadelphia countryside for over 2 years I was surprised at how much the scenery of the train ride resembled the London Countryside. I guess I’m spoiled at the fact that everything in Phoenix is brand new. Back in Philadelphia you realize that the city has been around since the 1700’s and has quite a bit of history.
So it was great to see my Mother again. She picked me up at the train station in Exton, closest to her house. It was both strange and sad to leave Justin and Berg. This is also the first time in over a year that I’ve traveled without Justin. The funeral was held at St. Joseph’s, the Catholic Church where I grew up in Coatesville. My Grandmother had planned everything out to the tee. She had the all the arrangements made and paid for since 1993. I guess 20 years of living alone gives you plenty of time to plan. She was 91 and lived a very long and happy life. It was an open viewing and she looked good, she looked at peace. All of my cousins and family were there to pay their last wishes. I saw cousins that I haven’t seen since I was a child. It’s a terrible reason to get the entire family together but nonetheless it was good to seem them again. I had the realization that I may never see many of these people together again. That was also a sad thought. Following the funeral, Mom and I went to Jim’s Steaks to grab some real Philly Cheesesteaks. Yum! Man I miss the real cheesesteaks from back home.
So it’s now Friday and I’m on my way back to Phoenix. I could have stayed the weekend but it’s my birthday this weekend so I wanted to get back. I’m still not sure if we are going to do anything but I wanted to be home anyway. I miss Justin and Berg.
This trip has made me realize 2 things. The first being how much I actually miss traveling. The second is how much I miss Justin when I travel. I guess that’s sort of a catch-22, you can’t really have the best of both worlds. I’d really love to travel again for work, but not to the extent where I would be out all week and only home on the weekends. Some occasional travel would be nice, but I don’t see that happening anytime in the near future. Alright well I’m going to relax a little bit since I have another 3 hours of flight before I get into Phoenix. Cheers.
