Saying goodbye to some friends (sort of)

I don't know if the closing of Yankee Stadium was on your radar screen the other day, but it caught our attention when we saw it in the newspaper because Mariano Rivera, the Panamanian pitcher for the Yankees, pitched the last out in the last game ever to be played there. Mariano Rivera is part of our family story. We don't know him personally, of course, though Hannah has his autograph that a friend got for her. Our family enjoyed watching the rising fame of Mariano-- a nice guy, an active believer with a rags to riches story. When the Yankees played, or, rather, when there was a chance that Mariano would play, we watched the World Series with all the fervor of real fans (even though the World Series was about all the baseball we ever watched). Mariano is still around, obviously, though Honduran papers rarely give news about anything except soccer, so it was fun to see his name in the paper the other day. Saying goodbye to Yankee Stadium is like saying goodbye to a friend (sort of). I thought it was worth mentioning.

We get the alumni magazine from Western Baptist (now Corban College) where John went to school. The issue we received recently had the pictures of four alumni that had been honored for something or other. (I think it was for living 50 years past the time they graduated.) One of the four, Paul Everett, passed away two weeks after he received his gold medal. As I read the obituary, the line "Pastor Paul and Wally" jumped out at me. Pastor Paul and Wally! Our pastor Paul and Wally? Wally was the vent figure used by Pastor Paul, the ventriloguist, on a much beloved cassette tape that my kids grew up with. We never knew Pastor Paul or Wally personally, though, in a way, "Wally" was practically a member of our family (sort of). He accompanied us on various car trips; provided laughs (at the same jokes) on many a rainy day. I'm glad "Pastor Paul" got a gold medal, though I am sure it is nothing compared to what he has received from the Lord. Saying goodbye to "Pastor Paul and Wally" is like saying goodbye to a friend. I thought it was worth mentioning.