Steve lived with his girlfriend in the apartment below us. Steve looks exactly like the singer in Alabama. We connected in a friendship way immediately and the four of us were close, close friends inside a larger circle of close friends. His girlfriend's pet name for him known only to the inner circle of friends was Bear.
We had all gone to a party one Saturday night in April. I was of course not drinking but Steve had had quite a few as he loved his beer and was an Irishman and always a happy smiling person. Everybody loved Steve. You couldn't help yourself. He had a charming personality. I decided to leave early because I was tired and Steve asked me to drive him home.
When we pulled up the apartment building where we both lived, he asked me to sit and talk for a while and during the conversation he told me all his regrets in life. Then he told me was going to die soon and I said, "how do you know this"? He said he could only explain it in terms of gambling (he loved gambling also) and that he knew when he would win sometimes and he also knew he was going to die soon. I wasn't convinced and certainly hoped it wasn't true.
That Thursday he was killed in a construction accident at work. I was devastated to say the least, overwrought with a level of grief that I had never experienced before or since even though I had known others young and old, family and friends who had died. To make a long story short, the Monday of the wake I left early, as I was not in the mood to party and just wanted to be alone with my grief. It was in the early afternoon, a bright sunny day in April.
I was lying on my side on my big brass bed just crying and crying when in the room walks Steve plain as day! He sits on the bed and I still remember verbatim what he said, as these words will always be etched in my mind until the day I die. "Kat, I have been granted a special visit to see you and I can't stay long but I need to tell you I am fine, I am in a better place and I am happy and you need to think of the baby first and what your grief is doing to your unborn child and you need stop this for the baby's sake."
Having said that, he got up and left the room. I never saw him again.
Years later I had my palm read and she told me that my friend Bear wants me to know that is watching over me and my child. She couldn't have known that name! I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
My son is named after Steve and he feels Steve watching over him and so do I.