Cathy and Steve are two of the absolute best folks that I have ever known. Cathy with her sweetness and graciousness, Steve with his kindness and compassion.

I've had the opportunity to spend several times around them and been honored to be invited in to their home on numerous occasions.

Steve was a Marine Corps veteran. I was proud of that, that he and I both at one time wore the uniform of the world's finest fighting force. I did tease him that his idea of the best posting in the Corps...Twenty-Nine Palms, California...was (In standard USMC language) "sick and fricking twisted".

A year and a half ago, I had what a thought was a hard time (b.s. relationship stuff...) and the first people that I went to were Steve and Cathy. That is an honest-to-God fact. Of my broken relationship, Steve said that the girl was making a big mistake and that I was a beautiful soul.

One time I tagged along with Steve to the Ole Miss-Bama game in Tuscaloosa. Steve's mother called me "a sorry ole Auburn sumbeech..."

Steve took up for me to his mom. It is one of my most favorite Auburn-Alabama stories to tell.

The next few things that I am going to write are difficult for me, as I am not very intelligent; I have tears in my eyes, a broken heart, and a thorough disgust with myself.

It really doesn't matter much how a man goes I suppose, as long as he was good to his family and his friends, and it is obvious by this very thread that Steve was those things indeed.

Simple logic and observation alone told me that something was wrong and that should have been enough for me to do something. Shortly after my
"girlfriend broke up with me visit" I received a note from Cathy. It said something along the lines of "Steve looks up to you, will you please talk to him about his drinking?"

I did nothing.

And possibly because I did nothing, I sit here today crying over the loss of a great friend, crying over the sadness of his family, crying at my failure to help someone who had always helped me.

These things are hell to admit to a bunch of strangers on a message board, but I'm telling you all these things in hopes that in honor of Steve, when you see something wrong; act. Do not just think that things or people will work it out on their own. If you can help, then help and help immediately.

Semper Fi, Steve and Roll Tide. You were beautiful.

This post was edited on 12/27/10 at 3:24 pm