Whenever Steve’s name is mentioned, my mind always jumps a particular memory I have of him. While I’ve seen him since then, this early memory fully encompasses my view of Uncle Steve to this day.
It was years ago at a family reunion on the beaches of Florida. I hadn’t seen Steve in several years, and at eight years old this meant he might as well have been a complete stranger to me. Yet I vividly remember being drawn to him almost as I would have been drawn to a cool older cousin.
The sun was almost down, and my brother Jeremy and I had somehow managed to convince Steve to take us fishing out on the beach. I’ll never know for sure what was going through his mind as he agreed come out with us, but in my mind he was just as excited as I was. I am 100% sure that the most I caught that night was a piece of driftwood, but that didn’t matter. All that mattered was that we were hanging out with cool Uncle Steve.
While I don’t remember exactly how the night unfolded, I’ll never forget how genuinely interested he seemed to be in making the people around him happy.
He was an awesome person, and this memory will never be forgotten.
My love and thoughts go out to the rest of the family and to the many others that were fortunate enough to have him in their lives throughout his years.