I first met Steve in 1994. My Mom, Kathy, had explained to me a few days before his first visit to our house in Forrest Avenue that she was courting him. "You know, Steve? That man i talk to at church a lot?" or something like that! My reaction was not good, being a young, naive 9-year-old, i assumed he would be a bit dull and boring and i can't say i was excited to meet him. Just for the record though, as a much older and (hopefully) wiser 28-year-old i don't feel that way about church-going folk anymore! Like i said, i was young and naive at the time. I can't remember what month it was, or even the day, but what i do remember is that when he did turn up at our house a few days later, i was completely blown away by this man. To this day i still feel guilty about those naive feelings i had about him, i had completely judged a book by it's cover, as they say. I still feel even more guilty about the fact that on that night when i first met Steve, he spent about 99.9% of his time with me instead of my poor Mother, who probably couldn't have ever imagined we'd get on so well, especially that quickly. Steve taught me how to play various card games and even other games like chess for example. But what i remember even more so than that is the fact that he made me laugh so much. He made me laugh over and over again! When i think back on that first night we bonded, he must've really wanted to go out of his way to make me feel as comfortable around him as possible and maybe even to a lesser extent maybe, that i had nothing to fear where my Mom, his feelings for her and how he intended to treat her were concerned. I was gutted that he had to leave, but happy that i would see him again. That night we even started our first tradition, our customary handshake when greeting one another. This was something we would continue to do until his tragic death in December 2011. It was our show of mutual respect for one another and i loved it. I loved him straight away and i still do.