Love. It's the one thing that when all else failed, Steff had. She had the love of everyone she came in contact with - especially Derick's love. It was impossible not to love her.
Her touch was gentle and kind. Her smile brightened the saddest days and her laugh made the most impossible situations seem possible. Her presence was a present in itself. Stephanie was a priceless gift.
I miss loving her. I miss being able to show her my love. The memory of her love is all I have left.
But then, sometimes, I think I still have the lesson of her love. She would always say "Girl, you just need some love in your life.". And as young as she was, she definitely was smarter than me when it came to that. She found it with my baby brother.
They loved each other so truly and so unconditionally. When he looked at her, even after she no longer had her golden blonde hair - he adored her. None of that mattered to him at all. No matter what was going on, how hard it was, no matter how sick she got, or how much of his life he had to sacrifice - it was all worth it because he adored her and she adored him right back. They were lost in their love for one another. Their love is what kept her going. It's what kept her fighting to stay alive and kept him fighting to her make her life worth living.
How special that kind of love must feel and how incredible to know that you have found the best parts of yourself in another person. I don't think I've ever been in love that way.
I've never really been so in love that I can't imagine my life without them. That's the way Stephanie loves Derick. She couldn't have gone on without him and he never made her, even when it was difficult for him.
He endured the pressure and agony of watching the girl he loved so much wither away before his tear filled eyes, but he didn't give up. His love for her held strong and so did his promise to love her and take care of her until the day she died. Not that she ever knew this promise, because it was a silent promise. As far as she knew, she was going to be just fine and one day they would live the life they always planned. He wouldn't take away the one thing she always had when she was in the hopsital - hope.
He endured the pressure and agony of watching the girl he loved so much wither away before his tear filled eyes, but he didn't give up. His love for her held strong and so did his promise to love her and take care of her until the day she died. Not that she ever knew this promise, because it was a silent promise. As far as she knew, she was going to be just fine and one day they would live the life they always planned. He wouldn't take away the one thing she always had when she was in the hopsital - hope.
No matter how broken her body was her heart never had to be. She gave it to someone who cherished it and protected it until she took her last breath. And even now after she's been gone for 6 weeks, his love for her still thrives as it always will.
When she died a part of him died. As much as it pains me to know how much he is hurting, I know that he is strong, and that her love, while not her in a physical sense, is still pulsing through him. That kind of love can't be broken by a change of worlds. Their love knows no limits. It never did.
As scared as I've always been to give my heart like that, I know Steff wants that kind of love for me, so I want it for myself. I want that love that shakes you to the core, changes the way you feel about life and makes you be a person you never knew existed. I won't allow my own fear to take away the possibility of the one thing that made her life complete.
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