The gondolas and the day I met Tim Salmon

Photos by Cindy Meadors

What an amazing week!!!! Wherever do I start to explain it. It was VBS week at my church and I was signed up to be a counselor. For those of you that don't know what VBS means, it's "vacation bible school." On the very first day I met a wonderful man who was my co-leader of my group of 12 kids. As it turned out Greg is the owner of Gondola Adventures and needed someone to photograph his gondolas for an upcoming book. What a night it turned out to be! The boats were beautiful and such a delight to shoot, they are elegant and glide through the water with magnificent splendor.

While shooting I ran into one of my girls from my VBS group with her family. Who is standing there with her family but Tim Salmon, the greatest Anaheim Angel (no, I won't say of L.A. because I still think that's crazy!) of all time. He's THE Angel, the King Fish, #15, who I absolutely love. He's a humble man, who spent his entire career as an Angel, something you never see anymore. Over the years I heard countless stories about his heart, his spirit, how he shares his faith and how he was devoted to his wife (she's a wonderful lady!) and his family. So to meet the man was truly an honor for me, of course I was in the middle of a shoot so it was only for a moment. In that moment so many images came to my mind; sitting behind him in game 6 of the World Series, that infamous game in which the Angels came from behind to win and to then go on to win game 7 and take the title. I can still see him standing there with his head down and seemed so sad that his team was losing. Then to remember the very next day when they won and he was appropriately given the trophy to run with around the field. I remember that vividly; he was beaming from ear to ear and in honor of the late owner of the Angels, Gene Autry, he wore a cowboy hat and tipped it in remembrance of Mr. Autry. What a class act! There will never be another Angel like him again. Thank you, Tim, for making my day. Even if you don't like hearing it, you're still the greatest Angel that has ever lived and you will forever be missed.

I was truly blessed all week by those kids, there's nothing better than to make a difference in the life of a child.

~Cindy~