Steve is my only child born on August 15, 1976, 6 days after my own 18th birthday. I had him so very young therefore, as you can imagine we grew up together. We married his step-father George in 1980. I loved my "Steve Babe" so much that I chose not to have anymore children, Steve would be my Number One. I'd ask him as a young child if he wished he'd have brothers and sisters, and right away he'd answer, "No way, I like being the only one!" with a smile on his face.

Growing up, music was a big part of our lives. In the early days Steve listened to my music, as the years passed by I expanded my own musical taste to accommodate his! Steve was a guitar player, and as he got older began to collect guitars. We had such a close and loving mother-son relationship, we'd go to concerts together and just sit there like two peas in a pod, very content, with the stars shining above....okay, so we weren't just sitting... We'd go cwazy at times, it was a concert for heavens sake! His favorite phrase was "Don't be Cwazy" he'd say that to me when he thought I was being funny or when he'd disagree with my opinion.

After Steve graduated from high school, he worked several jobs as he was not ready to attend college. He had not decided what he'd wanted to do with his life until 1996, when his childhood dream came back to him of becoming a police officer. He then joined the Explorers, a young adult law enforcement program. Steve was thrilled when asked to participate in a local undercover sting, his adrenaline was high, his goal in life had been validated, he knew that was exactly what he wanted to do. Therefore, he began his education in criminal justice to become eligible to join the police force.

On February 13, 1997 Steve had come home from his night class, we sat in the family room and talked for quite some time, I had earlier in the day taped his Valentine card to his bathroom mirror, as he knew mom could never keep a suprise...we laughed about it, aas he had pretended not to see it and was deliberately teasing me in his usual fun loving manner. Steve turned in shortly after midnight, he was going to begin filling out his application to get into the police academy. Before going to bed as we did every night, he and I would say to each other... "good night, love you, see you in the morning."

That was the last time I saw Steve alive.

The following day, Valentines Day 1997, as George and I each returned from our jobs, we found out that Steve had never gotten up to go to work. We found him lying on his bedroom floor, peacefully "asleep" with his paperwork spread out around him. His cause of death was a Sudden Arrhythmia Death, with no previous signs of health problems.