I came to back down to Florida with Rob, a friend I knew from AOL. Rob was a guy I knew from AOL. He was coming home to take care of some business and for The Gasparilla Pirate Fest.

We drove down the friday before, and upon arrival, I felt that long ago calling and knew this was where I wanted to be. We had a wonderful time with some of Rob's friends, and enjoyed the parade. I told Rob I had decided that I was going to move here, and he said that he was coming "home" too and perhaps we should share the moving expenses. I dont know how Troy got involved with all that, but the short of it is, I introduced Troy to Rob and they began a short relationship.

On March 26, 1999 we headed out in two cars and a Uhaul from Jackson, MS to Tampa Florida. Its 786 miles and I remember when I got to Florida thinking woo hoo almost there. I also remember how I felt 5 hours later when we still were on the road. That's a BIG state. We arrived late afternoon at Sunpointe Lake Apartments. I moved into one alone, and Rob and Troy moved into another.

It took about two weeks for Troy to decide that the life in Florida wasn't for him. Rob was going out with his old friends and basically staying out all the time. He decided to go back to his job at with a major retailer in Jackson . Rob and I didn't talk much because of things that were said in all the melee.

I went to work for Teletech as a fill in, to a job that I had secured prior to coming to Florida on March 28th through Rob's family and on April 19, jumped over to a more permanent job at Oxford Health Plans. It was my first experience in Health Insurance, and to a structured call center environment. It was hard work, but I enjoyed the feeling of helping people resolve their problems. Over the next year, I would come more to understand that people don't call service centers to be friends, they call when they have problems and when you deal with that 80 times a day it can take a toll on you.

Shortly after arriving I met Forrest. He was one of those guys who can look at you with those beautiful eyes of his and you would sell your mama up the river. He unfortunately had a few superficial challenges that he could not overcome where we were concerned and using my sister as an excuse he chose to end the relationship in late June. I will have to say that Forrest made me feel love for another person and I find it sad that he couldn't get past the issues at hand.

In early June my sister Lynn, and my nephew Cory came to visit me in Florida for two weeks, and it turned into a two month vacation/nightmare. My sister partied too much while she was here, and to be honest, made my life a total hell for about two months, out of those two months. She almost caused me to be evicted from my apartment, and made me a few enemies.

In August I met and dated another really nice guy here in town. He was also wonderful, and treated me really well. Now, the problem. He had issues with my "outness." To be more direct, he had issues with the stickers on my car, and the fact that it might make someone realize that he is not "completely" straight. We dated until October of 1999 and until he met his current lover was still a friend. That lover, however would not allow that friendship to continue even going as far as making Gary move to another apartment when Jamie and I moved into the same complex they lived in, even though we were on the other end of the development.