Many people have asked what they can do to help. I have a simple request. If you knew Keith, please sit down and record a few of your memories. I have received about 20 stories so far. I would LOVE to have more! I know much of what happened the last 6 years of Keith's life, but so many of you hold memories that I am not even aware of. If you went to Harding, went to school with Keith, were in his youth group, etc. please take a few moments to jot something down. Lincoln will never truly remember Keith. All that he will have are pictures and stories to bring him back to life. This book is going to be so special to him one day. In order for it to be a success, I need your help.

Many of the stories I received talked about how Keith was a great Christian. Don't get me wrong, that is wonderful. It is the most important quality by far! I would also love stories that reveal some of Keith's personality. It can be a silly story, a sad story, a serious story-I'm looking for anything you are willing to share. I know there a several old girlfriends out there. Feel free to write memories of when you dated Keith. It won't offend me. Keith told me about all of you (I think). It's even okay if the stories don't make Keith look like the greatest man alive. Lincoln needs to know that Keith made mistakes. He needs to know that Keith did a few dumb things. He needs to know that Keith got in trouble. Maybe it would be helpful for me to give you a few examples:

On our first date, your dad took me to Olive Garden. We had a nice meal and nice conversation. Next, we headed to Celebration Station to go miniature golfing. We got our golf clubs and picked out our balls. Before we got started, your dad said he needed to go to the restroom. I just stood outside waiting. I waited, and I waited, and I waited. I started to wonder what was going on in there. Eventually your dad came out. I can't remember if he told me what had happened then or at a later date. The problem was that your dad couldn't get his pants undone. He was wearing pants that had a built in belt. Here he is about to burst, and he couldn't undo his belt. He was just about to give up and cut the belt off when he finally got it loose. By the way, I beat your dad big time that night.

Your dad taught me a lot in the years that we were married. One of the most important lessons that he taught me was the importance of resolving conflict. Before I met your dad, it really didn't bother me to be at odds with someone. Sure it wasn't ideal, but I could go on about my day without giving it much thought. Whenever your dad and I had a fight, it drove him crazy. He couldn't think about anything until we had worked it out. At first, this was rather annoying. Once your dad made me come home from a friend's house just to resolve things. After we were married he would wake me up in the middle of the night to talk things through because he couldn't sleep. Eventually, he won me over. I'm not sure how many years it took. I'm a pretty stubborn lady, but with time I learned that your dad was right. The sooner you resolve conflict the better.

Your dad had the ability to talk people into things that they really didn't want to do. Just a few months after we started dating, your dad wanted me to go with him to visit his family. He suggested that we take my car because his was a standard. I didn't know how to drive a standard, so I agreed that we could take my car. He then proceeded to convince me to pay for some of the gas. Keep in mind that we had just started dating. It wasn't like we were engaged or even that serious. I'm not sure how he did it, but I ended up paying for half of the gas. Your dad was sneaky like that!

My plan is to put all of the stories together and have them professionally bound into a book for Lincoln. I envision the two of us snuggling up and reading a story or two each night once Lincoln gets older. Honestly, there isn't much any of you can do to make my grieving process easier. You do have the power to help Lincoln. If you want to send a story, please e-mail it to ksmccord@geusnet.com. I will end with a piece of an e-mail from Keith's best friend Bradley.

I was at my karate class this past Tuesday night when I was talking to a student whose name is Daniel. Daniel is around 11 or 12 years old and he is a yellowbelt. Anyways, somehow his parents were brought up inconversation. He voluntarily brought up that he never knew his dad. He said his dad died when he was nine months old of an aneurism. He started telling me how he wishes he could have gotten to know his dad. I told him of Keith and Lincoln. Then I told him that a lot of people that knew Keith have written (or in my case are still writing) Lincoln a letter to help give him a glimpse of what his father was like when he gets old enough to read. Daniel said, "I sure wish someone would have done that for me." I couldn't help but to get choked up a little. Keith was very wise to have come up with this marvelous idea of these letters to Lincoln.