In the summer of 1999, the store manager where I was employed told me that they had hired a new guy who was visiting from Ireland. I was supposed to call him and give him his schedule. Since moving to Eastern Ky, I had had some really bad experiences with "so called" friends. Call it fate, but somehow it was revealed to me that Brian and I would become good friends.

I met Brian a couple of days later, and we hit it off right away. I will never forget that summer. My family fell in love with Brian and we invited him out to dinner at Mr. Gattis'. I found out that Brian was a big eater and he put down a lot of pizza that day.

We also went bowling and had fun there. We video taped several of our outings together.

We invited Brian to a picnic at the lake. I remember it was extremely hot that day, and it was especially hard on Brian, who was not used to the heat, being from Ireland. Brian and I rode the sky lift together, and that was a cool experience.

Brian taught me many things I never knew about Ireland and the culture there. We had a party for him on his last day at the grocery store.

I found that Brian was honest and always kept his word to me. I appreciated that. We became very close friends and I could talk to Brian about anything. We spent a lot of time together the last couple of weeks before he went back home.

It was hard for me to say goodbye to Brian. He is the kind of person that, once you meet him, you will never forget him. We keep in touch on the internet now and we have called each other a couple of times. He keeps me posted on what is happening in Ireland, and I give him the news from the states. I miss Brian a lot, and hope that I get to see him again someday.