A passing

When Steve was a teenager he had the longest blond hair I’d ever seen ..and it shined. He looked like a rock star ..like the actor Gary Busey. Remember Busey’s son Jake in the movie ‘Contact’ ..? That was him. I remember high school ..some jocks were picking on him ..he told them that it would come back around someday ..after that they left him alone. Go figure (..?) He used to sell drugs ..but was getting paranoid ..said there were snitches everywhere. Then he disappeared. I didn't see him again until we ran into each other in college one day ..by accident. He was studying to be a counselor ..so he could help teenagers with drug problems ..he didn’t have to study hard. During college, Steve fell in love with a girl named Jody ..but she broke his heart ..and he took it real bad ..even dropped out of school. Still, Steve was as strong as an ox ..and had a kevlar constitution. He completed every one of the LA marathons he ran in. I remember one night he drove to San Francisco ..drank a gallon of burgundy wine ..got three hours of sleep in his car ..was sitting on the john when the starting gun went off ..and still managed to complete the San Francisco marathon with a time good enough to qualify for the Boston marathon. In July of 1991, the both of us met in Oracle, Arizona ..just outside of Tucson ..where his friend Janais Caprallis was chief architect for the Biosphere. We got a tour of the place just before they sealed it with ..rainforest ..monkeys ..savannah ..and all. Afterwards we had a big barbeque at Janais's ranch in the Catalina mountains. Man, we felt like cowboys on the wild frontier. My health and running practice took a nose dive around then. In 1993, Steve drove up to Santa Barbara and helped me get back into shape. Afterwards I ran in a 10-mile race. It was my personal best.

I’m so sad you’re gone buddy. I really love you. You will be missed.