the last time I went to see Steve in the hospital we went to go have a cigarette and there was a lady there with five children with one on the machines for life and as we walk by the nurses station he said you have to wrap a pudding a Jello a milk or whatever so we can take care of this family sitting in the waiting room knowing if their brother son is going to live so we walk by and we filled up our pockets and we walked into the waiting room where the family was waiting and Steve walked in hey hey hey the snackman is here and he gave all the kids is Jell-O pudding milk whatever we had whatever we had stolen from the nurses station don't matter the next day not sure if it happened or not but his mom was there and offered to family lunch the next day not sure if it happened or not but that was Steve and to see this kids eyeballs and Be so happy to see him. And for this family to be so grateful to take free bees that we stole from the nurses station was amazing he touched their hearts more than people will ever know and that's the man I will always remember and touch my heart in so many ways that's barely been a month and I am lost without him only wish I could call and talk to him just to hear his voice but peace out brother I'll see you on the flip side

Steve had a tough start.  He was born with a cleft lip and palette and had corrective surgery as a baby.  As he became older my Mom worked with him to perfect his pronunciation by having Steve blow out matches and use food as queues such as bananas to pronounce "b".  As you might imagine this created some mischievous behavior as he grew older. Looking back I remember how he was always playing with fire and lighting things up.  He disliked bananas to the point that the smell made him gag which was always fun for teasing him.  

He earned his nickname "crackerjack".  The story is that I was once gifted a bike for my 6th birthday and while were inside eating cake Steve had completely dismantled my bike.  He took it so far apart that I never was able to have a ride on it. LOL.

At the age of 13 Steve had open heart surgery for a leaking heart valve and was one of the first recipients of a juvenile pacemaker.  Many people didn't know but he wasn't supposed to live passed 20.  Getting too excited or his heart pumping too fast was a not allowed and a blow to his belly could have caused him great harm or even worse..been fatal.  It never slowed him down.   

Steve was my hero.  He was always there for me as a child making snow forts and having snowball fights, sharing his Boy Scout candied peanuts that he was supposed to sell but he ate or gave away, giving us rides on the back of his dirt bike, or doing donuts in the parking lot while we were all asleep in the back of Mom's station wagon.   

He loved life more than anyone I knew and was always teasing and joking.  He was kind to the unfortunate, helping however best he could.  He taught me that there are no limits and to be kind and help when you can.