Pages

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

a few words about wendi

from my heart, i just wanted to say a few words about a beautiful person that passed on this week. her name is wendi stinchcomb steger.

there are others who were much closer to her than i, but she meant a lot to me, too. and i feel it appropriate and necessary to say a few words in her memory.

i knew wendi when we were just kids. my mom told me that we used to go by and pick her and her sister up for church sometimes. she was a little over a year older, and i kind of looked up to her because of that. at our ages back then, one year was a big deal. of course, i would have never let her know that then.

we lost touch for a few years, but i never forgot her. she's one of those people you always remember. we reconnected briefly as teens. that's when i realized how beautiful she was both inside and out and what a sweet spirit she had. i've read a lot today how everyone knows her for her beautiful green eyes, but i remember her for her warm and welcoming smile.

once again, we drifted apart. but thanks to facebook, we were able to reconnect as 30-somethings. i was excited to catch up and renew our friendship. i gave her a hard time about her relationship with her husband jeremy. she was always telling someone she loved them. usually it was jeremy. and usually located right under her statement of love for him was a comment reciprocating that love. i actually began to look forward to seeing that daily exchange. it made me smile.

even if you didn't know wendi that well, it was pretty obvious that family was very much important to her. she was pregnant with who everyone thought was baby girl lanie. turns out it was baby boy eli. =) and many updates came about that little one and all their preparations for him.

wendi was always posting some funny incident in the steger home. i think the last conversation we had was over a status update about jeremy getting stuck in the dryer. he was trying to help his pregnant wife by doing the laundry. they were always doing sweet things for each other. what a shame she didn't have the camera ready. i almost fell out of the chair laughing as i read about the incident.

i will cherish wendi's last few months. i was inspired by her zest for life and her love for others. had i known that she wouldn't be with us much longer, i would have taken the time to tell her that i had been inspired by all her silly little updates. i started telling those closest to me how much i love them more often. i smiled a little more, probably mostly due to reading her status updates. and i remembered to stop and celebrate life. i was constantly looking for updates about her pregnancy.

the world lost a wonderful person, and heaven shines a little brighter.

eli, we never got to know you, but you were one very loved little boy. and your momma was incredible.

wendi, you will be missed. and i won't stop letting others know that i love and adore them. we've drifted apart again, but we'll reconnect someday. we always have. and i look forward to that, but until then, i plan to honor your memory by cherishing life and love.
wendi stinchcomb steger
december 12, 1973- july 19, 2010

1 comment:

Kay Brumbelow said...

That was a beautiful tribute, Hope. She will be greatly missed.