Brian Peiper:
CLASS OF 1971
Brush High SchoolClass of 1971
Lyndhurst, OH
Brian's Story
Since graduating from dear Brush High School, my life's journey has taken me through 5 different states and oh what a twisting, winding journey this life of mine has been so far. In addition to Ohio, I have also come to know Maine, New York, and Florida as states in which I have lived. After a two year stint of living and working on the tiny island of Manhattan, Palm Springs, CA, has now become the place I refer to as "home."
Having been a Registered Pharmacist for a total of 27 years, I finally found my professional calling as a Certified HIV Specialty Pharmacist. I have held the position of "Pharmacist-in-Charge" for two nationwide HIV/AIDS Specialty Pharmacy chains, one in New York City and the other in the Tampa Bay Area.
As a means for having both fun and the ability to give part of myself back to my community in the past, I was a 10 year singing member of the Tampa Bay Gay Men's Chorus in addition to singing with the Portland Maine Gay Men's Chorus, the New York City Gay Men's Chorus, and with the Palm Springs Caballeros. I can also say with great pride, I was both a co-founder and am a past-President of the Tampa Bay's first (and only) Gay and Lesbian Synagogue. And yes it is true, I WAS married once....for 16 years in fact......and to somebody from BEACHWOOD (BLEAH!!) no less. I’ve got a daughter who is now 41 years old, but unfortunately, she doesn’t speak to me. No, I was not a bad father, I was a terrific father as a matter of fact. The reason is PAS. Look it up, it stands for Parental Alienation Syndrome. Ironic thing is, my daughter lives on the same side of the sexual orientation “fence” as I do, so go figure. Maybe it’s that insidious BEACHWOOD DNA that’s part of her.
My Mom and Dad and I were always very close, as they were always there for me throughout the years, so losing my Dad just as he was about to turn 90 in 2006 was absolutely devastating for me. As an adult, I felt a strong obligation to give something back in return, and so I chose to take on one of the greatest and most rewarding challenges in my life seven years ago, by sharing a home with my Momma who was then 93 years young (as She would put it) and taking on th...Expand for more
e role of being her caregiver. Challenging? At times, quite. Difficult? What would you expect? Rewarding? You bet! More than you could possibly ever imagine! I would never trade spending that oh so precious time with her for anything else in this world, and if I had to do it again, I would. No one lives forever unfortunately, and so it goes with my Mom. I lost her on October 1st of last year, only 30 days after just celebrating her 99th birthday.
Adventure has not been the only thing I've met with every location change I have made along the way. There were a couple life lessons I also apparently needed to learn, the biggest one being to always follow one’s own intuition. This lesson came as a result of one of the darkest experiences in my life, as I naively allowed a true to form narcissist enter into my life. I’ve always been rather good at noticing red flags as they pop up along the way, however, narcissists have a not so funny way of getting you to either ignore those flags or easily dismiss them. My mistake was allowing infatuation to overcome my sense of better judgement and I have dearly paid the price for that. Getting back to those more global lessons I have learned.....I have come to learn that the human condition can be quite fragile at any given place or time, and so it’s the manner in which people treat one another that is one of the most important things. I’ve also come to learn to stay far away from those who claim they walk the "pathway to enlightenment,” because they really have no clue at all as to what enlightenment actually is. It's just a ruse, another way for them to gain control over other people. And all those self-appointed "judges" out there are the worst of all, unjustly accusing other people of committing "crimes" that they themselves are guilty of. At the end of the day, I believe we are all the same as everyone else, and no individual has the right to sit in judgment of another. Each and every one of us deserves to be treated equally, fairly, and with the same level of dignity and respect that others would expect from us.
This then is only just part of the big glorious passing parade that I refer to as “my life.”
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