Deborah Lipp

Stevie Wineburg proved, in his short life, that you don’t have to be good at talking, or walking, or have a career, in order to make a difference in the lives of those around you.

Grief doesn’t come to those who deserve it, or earn it. Grief comes because life and death are things that happen. Good families and bad families equally are touched by tragedy. Meaning is in our response.

Despite riotous, flagrant dysfunction, we nonetheless have seen our families (Lipps and Wineburgs) come together and grieve together and love each other. That matters. That is meaning.

I am so proud of my sister and brother-in-law for staying so deeply connected to love; to love of each other, of their daughter, and of their son, Stevie. I am learning so much about wisdom just by watching them. I am humbled by the size of their hearts.

Stevie was baptized a Catholic, and his funeral was Catholic, and so for that I will say that I pray he is with his Heavenly Father.

But I am Craft, and from my Craft belief I will say with all my heart: May he be born again to those who loved him, and know them, and love them again.