My son, Alex Michael Vedros, was born on March 24, 1995. He had a stroke during delivery, resulting in cerebral palsy, blindness, and gross developmental delays. In spite of all of this, Alex had the biggest smile, and his laughter lit up the room. Alex passed away in his sleep on February 28, 2004 - a month before his 9th birthday. Our pastor,Fr. Billy O'Riordan did Alex's funeral mass. During his homily, he talked about how hard it was to do funerals for children, and that he never quite knew what to say. He spoke of another young man, Wally Pontiff, Jr. who had also died way too soon. Fr. Billy told us that he knew Wally was waiting in heaven for Alex with a bat in one hand and a glove in the other. He said that for Alex's first time seeing and running he would have a wonderful "coach" teaching him how to throw, catch and bat. This meant a lot to me, as a I had grown up playing softball at Oakdale Playground on the Westbank and have coached T-ball there for a few years. I was excited to know that Alex would finally have the chance to play - and with such a talented teacher! We never met Wally, but Alex has gone to a summer camp for children with special needs for years at Metairie Playground, so we were very familiar with Wally. My husband and I are both LSU graduates, so we also know that Alex and Wally are wearing purple and gold as they play baseball in heaven. Chris & Traci Vedros