Mike Menza

On Saturday we will be attending a memorial service for our friend Mike Menza.

He is the guy on the left in the picture above. He is standing next to his lifelong friend Pat. They grew up together in Chicago. This picture was taken at our wedding four years ago.

These two guys have been playing softball together for many, many years and their apartment was filled with dozens and dozens of trophys. They've always had a roster spot open for Aimee and I've been able to play on a few teams with them as well.

Unfortunately, Mike has lost a long battle with cancer that started in his lungs. His death last week was a sad surprise for us and for a lot of people who were unaware how severely his cancer had returned in the last couple of months. We knew that he had been in remission in the last year or so and thought that he was on his way to becoming his old self.

Mike was a very nice person who was generous and friendly to anyone who knew him. His employer, the L.A. Weekly wrote of his passing. His longtime girlfriend is also one of the regular softball players. We will see her on Saturday at Forest Lawn.

We'll still see Pat every Thursday night for softball.