How I Ended Up in Arizona

An interesting, not A 'riveting', story, but they can't all be gems!

Ahh. The question many have wondered but few have asked.

‘Barry; you’re a New Yorker,” or “You’re a Long Island boy,” or..”what’s a Jew doing in the desert? Then I remind them: we started in the desert. We were even part of the first pyramid scheme! Well, we built the pyramids. Kinda similar.

So, what brought me here 25 years ago, a quarter of a century ago?

A little background. I, as you all know, had a career in public relations in this biz we call ‘show.’ Some great jobs I was fortunate to have.

It was 1998. I was 90 miles away from Erica who was on LI and we were in Morris County, New Jersey, but like all fathers do, I drove for the recitals, the birthdays, and the visitation weekends.

Hope’s ‘baby sister’ Lori had moved out here in 1995, because Arizona seemed like an interesting place. Three years later, having been lucky to be part of a management buyout of Prodigy and a subsequent public offering, I did as most executives did and moved on, opening my own strategic pr firm.

With my parents and other family in Florida, along with Hope’s mom, now a widow, Hope had a dream, other than me. She wanted to open a law firm with her baby sister and it meant moving west. Lori and Jeff were now parents of twin boys so we thought: “Why not? My clients were in NY, LA, and Minnesota.

We came out to Scottsdale in mid-’98 and found a house. It would be done a year later so we went back east and would return in October 1999. We would move again 19 years later.

One of the things that made it difficult was Erica was in her senior year in 1999 and though it meant I’d be moving before she graduated, I thank Southwest Airlines which at the time, flew to Islip. I went back East every 6 weeks or so to let her know, I was there, even though I was 2000 miles to the left.

Now 1999 was a different century. Back then, you had to live where you worked and work where you lived. The world was not virtual. There was no zoom and out of sight, out of mind was the mantra. I had some loyal clients who stayed and some thought being so far away would be a problem.

Now, families are interesting. Quite often, the wife’s family holds the upper card when it comes to where to live and I am sure my parents bristled at the move. Erica announced she was applying to schools here in Arizona so for the first time since she was 4 ½ , we would be living under the same roof.  Everyone knows how that turned out and I finally believed it could have happened anywhere.

Hope’s mom followed in 2000 and moved into a nice community not far from the girls, the grandkids, and now Erica. Erica had an extended family, two loving families which is lucky for any kid.

In 2004, having written regularly for The Arizona Republic and having a few smaller clients here, I met my new friend Steve, as we both sat on a tech board. He said:” If you’re smart and from NY, you can be governor in three years!”  I had no desire to be governor, but then-governor Janet Napolitano thought my experience was good enough to name me Chairman of the state Film and TV Commission which put me back in the thick of things. I would never earn what I did back East, but I was ensconced. Scottsdale was now my new home.

My dad passed away in 2005 and my mom came to visit in 2006 and we looked at places here for her to move to. The family would extend even more. Sadly, she died at the end of 2006 and the move was never completed.

Here we are, nearly 25 years later. We downsized in 2018.  Hope and Lori have been law firm partners for almost two decades, two radio talk shows over the years, a 2014 bout with cancer, two nephews I am proud of and one is a Dad, and a brother-in-law, Jeff who has completed the circle. I see my Florida family from time to time and with all of the mishigas that come with all families, we are good.

So, there you have it.

When people here ask me where I’m from, I say NY. It’s in my blood, my history and my humor. But when we travel, I pause and say, wherever Hope and I end up, is home.