Our trip to South Carolina

Stephen's birthday is Thursday (the 31st). He would have been turning 25 this year. Mom and Dad had to go to court to settle up with the insurance company. Since it was so close to Stephen's birthday, we decided to have a balloon lift-off to celebrate.

On Monday, Mom and I left to go to Athens, GA to pick up my mom's mom Marie. We picked her up and went to the nursing home to visit my great-grandmother Lois. We saw my cousin Kendra and her 3 boys while we were there. We left for Greenville and met up with our MADD Advocate and good friend Wendy. She's been helping us out since shortly after Stephen died, but I never had the chance to meet her in person. We talk on the phone a lot and feel like we're old friends. She organzied a balloon liftoff for the month anniversary of Stephen's death. So, we met with her and waited for Jamie to get off work. Jamie is the old friend of Stephen's whom he had dinner with the night he died. We went to Jamie's house to get ready for dinner. Jamie let us stay with her. It was me, mom, Grandma Rea, Wendy and Jamie. It was like a slumber party!

Kim (Griffen's sister) and her husband Lee came over to Jamie's to meet. Lee's dad was having surgery on Tuesday, so she came back from her vacation for it, and it just happened to be the day we came up. It was so nice to meet her. She and I have gotten to be so close because we've experienced the same loss and are both being proactive about speaking out about alcohol abuse. She was so nice and I am so happy we were finally able to meet in person and give each other the hugs we've been wanting to give each other over the last few months.

(Click to enlarge)

Kim and I




Anyway, Stephen's friend Keri and her sister Kristy came over from Brevard for dinner. Kristy and I have become pretty good friends online since Stephen died. She's had some tragic loss in her life and she has really been a source of comfort and healing for me. Dad and Linda were on vacation from Phoenix already, so they headed over to Knoville, TN and picked up my younger brother Frank and came down to Greenville. The 10 of us went to dinner at Wild Wing Cafe. That's the last place Stephen was before he died. He and Jamie ate there that night. It got a little emotional at one point, but I'm glad we went.

Jamie, Wendy and I



Frank, Dad and Linda



With Keri and Kristy



Linda, Me, Dad and Frank



Me, Mom and Grandma Rea




When I was at my grandmother's house, I found a video tape of Stephen with me and Jake and Kinsey at Christmas 2006. He had brought his then-girlfriend Amanda home from Arizona and we went for lunch with Grandma Rea. I was so excited to find that tape because I have been so mad that I never made any video of Stephen with the kids. I wished there was some tape so the kids could have some video to remember how he was with them. He was such a wonderful uncle to them. We watched the video at Jamie's before we went to bed.

Tuesday morning, we all got together for breakfast, and while Mom and Dad went to court, Wendy took Marie, Frank and I walking around downtown Greenville and we went to the suspension bridge over Reedy River Falls. After court, Mom, Dad, Linda and I went to see Sgt Brock of the MAIT team to find out all the details of Stephen's accident. After that we headed out to the crash site to have the memorial celebration for Stephen's birthday. Casey came over from Brevard and we all had a nice time. It was very emotional for all of us.

The cross and sign



Casey and Me



Getting ready to send our messages to Stephen



Watching them float to Heaven



The balloons



Frank, Dad and Me



Dad, Me and Mom



My Dad



I got a little emotional



We didn't get back til after 1am this morning. It was a loooong 2 days but I got to do a lot of the things I've been waiting 11 months to do and meet the people I've been wanting to meet.

I'm going to add some more pictures from our walk downtown as soon as Dad emails them to me.