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.
Sunday, January 02, 2005
Happy New Year!
@HOME. Wow I can't believe that it's 2005 already. I usually hit the beginning of the year and realize that I haven't been writing as much as I'd like or not doing something that I should, but for the first time in years I'm content. As I look back over the past year I don't really have any regrets or complaints. I'm looking forward to getting more accomplished this year and moving forward with some of my personal goals. I'm just thankful that I'm happy, healthy, and can share my life with Justin and Berg. I realize that we've created a wonderful home and family together for which I'm so very grateful.
This year should bring about some interesting events. First off, Justin and I have just finalized and made all the arrangements for our trip to Europe. We're going to be flying into London and staying for 1 night. We're then taking the Eurostar Train across the chunnel to Paris where we will be staying for 3 nights. Following Paris, we'll then head back on the train where we'll spend 10 more nights in London. We are both very excited about the trip. This will be my 2nd trip to London and 3rd trip to Europe overall, but it will be Justin's first trip to both. None of my other trips to Europe with a significant other, so I'm really looking forward to spending the time there with Justin. I know when I went to London for work in 2003, I hated the fact that I was there without Justin and he couldn't be there to explore the city with me. Paris will be a first for us both, so that will be great.
Also this year we'll be flying back to Philadelphia to help my Mother move back out here to Arizona. Let me first give a brief background to all this ... I moved to Arizona in 1994 after I graduated from Penn State. My parents came out to visit me 2 years in a row and fell in love with Arizona. They decided in 1998 to retire early and move out here in July of that year. They were both only 58. They spent 2 years living in Scottsdale and really enjoying their time together before we found out that my Father had pancreatic cancer in the summer of 2000. He became very ill, very quickly. In September of 2000, I accepted a position working for a Dot-Com in San Francisco and I was worried about my parents and my Mother having to take care of my Father alone here in Arizona. So before I moved out to San Francisco, I told them to pack up, that I was going to move them back to Pennsylvania to be with the rest of our family. So with short notice and little preparation I moved my parents back to Pennsylvania, and then in October I moved out to San Francisco. Shortly after that, in December of 2000, my Father passed away. Both my Mother and I were devistated. The night my Mother called me to tell me about my Father, I was sitting and having dinner with Justin on our first date. So, with all that said, my Mother has been alone in Pennsylvania since then. She does have the support of her sister and and some friends, but it's just not the same and I worry about her being alone. She visited us in San Francisco and didn't really care for it. My Mother just isn't a city person. So when Justin and I moved to Phoenix in 2002 she was excited for us and said she would like to come back out to Arizona. So for the past year we've been talking about it and she decided she is going to move back out here in the fall. She'll be staying with us for a few months until things settle down and we all determine the best housing situation.
So I'm looking forward to the adventures, experiences and changes this new year is going to bring about. Hopefully it will turn out to be a great year! Happy New Year to all my friends, family and passerby's to this BLOG. Cheers!
