Good Morning Gorgeous
I’ve waited 7 long months to come here to visit. Something doesn’t sit right with me about visiting you in this place. It’s a beautiful sunny day out, in the 80s you would love the weather. I go watch the sunsets at the riverfront in hopes to see glimpses of you in the pink skies early in the mornings sometimes. I still work our Friday nights. Alone most of the time, yet never alone because you are always there. I can still hear your laugh In the building when it’s quiet and there’s no one there but me. This still doesn’t feel real and some days I wake up and forget for a moment you’ve left us. It won’t ever be right without you at KCs. I think of you when the other younger girls ask me how to make a drink just like I did when I first started. I was nervous but you and Colleen made it look so easy! I I I hope you’re seeing pink skies every day up there! Keep shining beautiful days on us down here. 💕💕💕💕
💖
Seeing Hayden at her last AMAPA recital without you here cheering her on, will never sit right with me… you were always there, running everywhere, being everything to your kiddos, fueled on alanis, iced lattes and the pure joy of being the best mom. Nobody will take your place, not with them, or with me. I miss you so damn much. It hurts to breathe in a world that you’re not in. I remember how you started wearing spanks when you were pregnant with Hayden, because you didn’t want anyone to know, asking me endless questions about pregnancy and parenting. We didn’t know what we were doing, but we figured it out… always by sending each other any new information we found (and deals on baby items), from preschool sign ups, to pediatricians and extracurricular activities for our girls. Hope that when I get to see you again, you will do the same, and guide me in your new place, because this one you left behind, definitely sucks without you.
David Johnson
23w
My Forever Queen
You were the most amazing, perfect, selfless, caring, loving, genuine person I have ever met. You were the definition of love, all you ever wanted was to be loved and I’m so incredibly grateful that I was there to give you that. I absolutely with all my heart will love you, miss you and mourn for you for the rest of my life. We planned forever but it was taken from us, we planned a lot and I just cant wait to see you again in the afterlife. I have so many memories we shared in such a small amount of time, but for this tribute I will say, you were so incredibly happy, so in love and I’m happy I could give you that. I love you so much Stephanie Lauren, I always will. Forever 🩷💕
Mary Grace Brewer
25w
Dia Stacey
Stephanie, my Dia,
It doesn’t feel real that I’m writing this. Part of me still expects to see you when I’m back in town, to run into you somewhere like we always seemed to do, picking right back up with a smile or a laugh.
You were one of a kind. So bubbly, so bold, and completely unapologetic about who you were. You told it like it was, no sugarcoating, no pretending. I loved that about you. You had this way of pulling people in, talking to anyone like you’d known them forever. I would have never but that’s why we were such a perfect balance.
Some of my favorite memories are the ones that probably got us in the most trouble. Like the night in 9th grade when we snuck out, ended up at that party in another county, got in that wreck on the way back, and then ran from it because we were so scared to get caught. Looking back, that was a really stupid thing to do, but I wouldn’t trade that memory for anything because I was with you.
Or when we went to see Bill Clinton speak when he came to Paducah, and you were absolutely determined to get a picture with him. And of course, you did. That was you. Fearless. If you wanted something, you made it happen.
And New York in 10th grade… when we decided Macy’s was more important than being on time for the bus. Getting caught in that rainstorm, panicking while waiting forever on a taxi, almost missing it but laughing through it anyway. That’s how I remember us. A little chaotic, a lot of fun, and always together.
I miss you so much, Dia. More than I can put into words. And I hate even more the way you were taken from this world. It’s something I will never understand, because you didn’t deserve that. Your kids didn’t deserve to lose their mom. The world didn’t deserve to lose you.
But what I do know is this: you left a mark that will never fade. Your spirit, your laughter, your boldness - that lives on in every memory, every story, every person who loved you.
I still see you in those moments. And sometimes, in dreams, I get to hug you again. Every time I wake up from one of those dreams, I thank God for giving a little bit of time with you. Just for a second, it feels like everything is okay.
I will carry you with me always, my Dia.
Love, your Lala
My dear Steph
Too many memories to post! So I think I will use this to share when little things remind me of you… I remember when we were at the gym, and you had your interview to be a flight attendant and had to change your driver’s license to change your height because of the job height requirement… I still think it’s hilarious that you had 4’11” on your DL cuz you thought it was cuter than 5ft…. Even though that job didn’t work out, you did get the inside scoop of working for Skywest in Paducah, and still having those flight benefits you wanted, and brought me along for the ride… going back to Skywest without you feels so weird… Hayden is my enrolled travel friend, and she will continue to see the world that you wanted for her… I miss you so much, and not a day goes by that I don’t wish I would wake up and it be a dream….
