The Early Years

When I was born, my Mom and Dad lived in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. We lived in North Carolina, near my mom's family, for about three years. My Grandma, on my Mom's side, currently lives in Boone, NC. She has lived in the same house for as long as I can remember. My Uncle Ricky and his daughters, Melissa and Melia live in Hickory, North Carolina. I have one other uncle, on my mom's side, Uncle Ronnie, who also lives in Hickory. He has three sons, Scott, Chris, and Darren.

My sister was born 5 years later and we became best friends. She now lives in Richmond with her husband Darren and their three kids, Emily, Matthew, and Megan.

Georgia and Vermont

After North Carolina we moved to Fort Benning in Columbus Georgia. After three years, it was back to Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Three years later we ended up in Burlington, Vermont. This is were I started school. I went to Thayre School from 1st to 3rd grade. I had to walk to school in all sorts of weather (pity me). I had three friends that I can remember, Kimberly, Shawn S. and Tim. Kimberly was my bestest friend, I thought I was going to marry her, and then we moved away in 1975. I was devastated, I still had dreams of marring her for years after we moved. 

Stuttgart, Germany

From Vermont we moved to Stuttgart, Germany. We lived in an kind of duplex on the economy (meaning not on a military base) for a while. I hated it at the time.? Then we moved to temporary housing on the top of an apartment building that use to be the quarters for the apartments housekeeping staff, so we had a very long apartment with many rooms. We finally got a real apartment on the base my Dad worked at. I could walk to school again and I could also walk to the PX, which was way cool because I could run to the bookstore whenever I wanted to get the latest Ritchie Rich comic book!

?I have since realized that living in a different country is a great experience! I owe much of my morals and life philosophies to the fact I was exposed to different peoples and cultures. I learned a lot in Germany.

Virginia

Then we moved, for the last time, to Burke, Virginia. I started seventh grade at Lake Braddock Secondary School. As I went through that school my friends were, Jim L., Stephen L., Jim P. and Sean R. We moved from a town house to a house in Burke in 1979. There, my friends included, Sean J. and Joel F. Our next door neighbor was great; the Teeters did lots of things with the Jepsons and us. Sometimes we went camping together. Then my parents got a divorce and I moved with my Mom to Springfield, Virginia. I didn't stay there long, and I moved out of the house to an apartment with a roommate who was also a co-worker.

Coming Out

I had a series of roommates, and eventually realized that I was gay. At this point I understood why felt so different and immersed myself into the gay community in Washington DC. At a group for gay people under 20 I met Joseph Harr. We bought an apartment in 1994. And in 1998 we moved to a new apartment across the street. I loved doing home improvements (even though they were going a little slow).

Robert

I moved out in December 2000 and met my current boyfriend, Robert A., at a bus stop (of all places.) We now living in an cute apartment in Alexandria. Robert's family is from San Antonio, Texas and we visit about once a year. We also have "yearly" visits to Disney (any park) and London (for work).

Professional Career

I worked at Alexandria Drafting Company from 1983 to 1991. ADC is a local mapping company. It has since been bought by the Langenscheidt Group (which owns mapping companies in Florida, New York and Chicago and is a publishing company in Germany). ADC makes the best, most detailed maps of the Washington metropolitan area. I had a multitude of jobs at ADC. I started as a sort of gopher for in the Custom Maps Department with Clarence W. After that I worked in the Photo Lab with Wendell T. and Dave C. Then I became an Estimator (how much does it cost to make a map??) and then I worked on digitizing computer maps using AutoCAD. The last job I had was Administrative Assistant for the Printing Manager. I then changed companies and worked for EEI as a LAN Administrator, with Dave F., Olivia H. and Toni H. for 10 years. Now I work as a Web Developer for EEI with Karla W. and Cynthia T. in the Communications Department.