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.
Monday, December 12, 2005
Happy 5th Anniversary (to us!)
@HOME. Today is the 5th Anniversary of my first date with Justin. Since we aren't allowed to get married here in the United States, most gay couples choose to celebrate their anniversary date as either the day they met their significant other or the day they became an exclusive couple. This gives couples like us something to be proud of and celebrate.
Rich & Justin, Christmas 2000
The photo above is one of my very favorite photos of us. It was taken at a Christmas Party a few weeks after we met. People always ask us how we met, so let me give you the condensed story ...
It was December of 2000, and just 2 months earlier I had gotten out of 1 year relationship and moved from Phoenix to San Francisco. Justin was a sophomore attending the San Francisco State University and living in a flat in Daly City. He was working at the Sony Metreon Theatres while attending school.
For me, this time was one of the most interesting times of my life. I was single and living in a new city without any close friends or family. I decided that I wanted to meet some people and maybe even try going on a few dates. I never really had much luck meeting any decent people in a bar so I decided to take a look at the Excite Online Classifieds. Now mind you these classifieds were way different in 2000 then they are today. First of all they were free so everyone used them for selling and buying things, second they had a personals section just like the real newspaper classifieds. If you remember just 5 years ago the internet was not yet laced with the flood of commercial advertising so the Excite Classifieds were a really simple text based posting and email system. I think by this time they had just advanced to the point of being able to upload photos to your postings as well.
I remember browsing through these classifieds postings under the Male Seeking Male section as if I were shopping for new clothing. I saw this one posting, and the photo was cute but “19 y/o Hopeless Romantic” was the title. I couldn’t do it. I just turned 30 in October and I kept thinking to myself he’s way too young. I passed it by, kept browsing and even replied to a few other postings. As would become a daily habit, the next day I was browsing the classifieds again looking for any new postings and came across the same “19 y/o Hopeless Romantic” that I had previously passed by the other day. I decided to read the posting. He was really cute, and sounded sincere in his posting, but just couldn’t get the thought out of my head that at 19, he was way too young, so again I kept browsing. A week or two had passed and I kept seeing the “19 y/o Hopeless Romantic” posting from the cute boy. I had all kind of thoughts going through my head like he’s too young, or I’m too old, or he wouldn’t be interested, or pretty much any excuse I could imagine. I was NOT going to be one of these 30 y/o guys trying to convince a 20 y/o how cool I am. I don’t know what it was about his posting but I finally decided ‘what the hell?’ I was going to send him a note. Something brief, just to say to him “check out my website & let’s chat sometime if you’re interested.”
To my surprise Justin replied back to me with his phone number. I called him; we chatted for a bit and then agreed to meet. I found the old emails:
>-----Original Message----- >From: Edge X >Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2000 11:29 AM >To: Banshee/DixonHill >Subject: RE: Hello > > Hey Gator Boy! > > Hope you had fun in class this morning! Make sure to get some beauty sleep! > Well I guess I'll get to meet you tonight. I'm sort of excited -- I hope you are > as well. > > Ok well call me today when you get a chance! > > Rich > > -----Original Message----- > From: Banshee/DixonHill > Sent: Friday, December 08, 2000 12:59 AM > To: Edge X > Subject: Re: Hello > > Howdy Rich- > > I went to your site and read what was on it, and I was astounded. I liked what you > said. You know exactly what you want out of life and relationships. I wouldn't > mind chatting more about things, with you. You seem to have your shit together, > to put it bluntly. Here is my number, if you'd like to give me a call. > > If you don't get a hold of me, you can go ahead and leave a message, and I'll call > you back. So anyway, I hope to hear from you. > > -Justin > > p.s. - You are pretty good looking, as well. > > edgex@cyrek.net wrote: > > This is a response to your advertisement on Excite Classifieds. > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > Male Seeking Male: Long-term, 19 y/o, 6 ft. 3 in. tall > San Francisco, CA, 19yo Hopeless Romantic > http://classifieds.excite.com/cgi-cls/ad.exe?P1+C180+R5847727 > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Well quite an interesting ad you have. If you would like to learn a > bit more about me check out my website at http://edgex.cyrek.net > > If you would like to chat sometime please email me at edgex@cyrek.net > > Have a great day! Rich > > *** Thank you for using Excite Classifieds! *** >
So that night, the night of December 12th, 2000, we agreed to meet at Borders next to San Francisco State. I saw him walking into the store when I was parking and thought he was so cute. We met, went to dinner and then walked the streets of San Francisco. The rest is history.
Justin and I have had our ups and downs over the past 5 years, which I'm sure is the norm for any couple as they learn how to live together and grow together, but I wouldn’t change anything. We make each other laugh, enjoy spending time with each other and I love him with all my heart.
Hopefully we’ll have many more years together to celebrate, and who knows, maybe someday we'll even be able to get married ... legally. Won't that be a great day? My only question is ... if that happens and we get married, do we have to reset the anniversary clock back to zero again? Cheers!
Wonderful story!! Laughed my ass off at the pics -- may 5 turn into 50 -- you guys deserve it!!!
|______________________________________________________________________ posted by Sorted Lives @ Monday, December 12, 2005 7:03:00 PM
Happy Anniversary, Rich and Justin!! That's the second time you've put up that pic of the two of you ~~ it's a great one, I agree. No, if you get married (hopefully!!) you won't have to change anniversary dates, you'll get to have TWO of them! :)
When the hell are you moving to Vancouver so you can do this???
|______________________________________________________________________ posted by Jude @ Monday, December 12, 2005 10:28:00 PM
Happy Anniversary you two kids!
|______________________________________________________________________ posted by Darin @ Monday, December 12, 2005 11:12:00 PM
Happy 5th Anniversary!
|______________________________________________________________________ posted by Chris @ Tuesday, December 13, 2005 6:50:00 AM
Happy Anniversary Rich & Justin!! Love the pic of you two! You guys look so good together.. Jay and I celebrated our 5th back in April. :-)
Cheers to you both!
|______________________________________________________________________ posted by NovaStorm @ Tuesday, December 13, 2005 8:49:00 AM
Thanks for the comments everyone!
|______________________________________________________________________ posted by Rich Brown @ Tuesday, December 13, 2005 9:47:00 AM
Happy Anniversary you two! What a gorgous picture of the two of you together!
My brother and his partner have been together for nearly 20years and are still the most solid couple I know. I will make an anniversary wish for you and Justin to have the same, wonderful relationship together! A life time of love and laughter and understanding.
|______________________________________________________________________ posted by Tracey @ Tuesday, December 13, 2005 9:59:00 AM
Happy Anniversary, y'all. I'm so happy for you. Oh and thanks for reminding me that I'm single. Real nice. http://www.mcso.org/submenu.asp?file=MugIndex
xoxo!
|______________________________________________________________________ posted by Donnie @ Tuesday, December 13, 2005 3:55:00 PM
Happy Anniversary! Man, so internet dating can work!
I think, if you get married, you should just have two anniversaries. Why not?
|______________________________________________________________________ posted by Atari_Age @ Tuesday, December 13, 2005 4:52:00 PM
WOW. Happy Anniversary kids. I am so happy for you. I LOVE that sign at the church.
CONGRATS
Jayne
|______________________________________________________________________ posted by Chris @ Thursday, December 15, 2005 10:34:00 AM
