It has been a season of love for Mariano Rivera, who will turn 44 in November. A veteran of 19 Major League seasons, the longtime New York Yankees closer is in his final days as an active baseball player.

His longevity and humble personality are rare among professional athletes. Whether or not you believe closers are overrated, Rivera's ability to be among the best in the ninth inning over three decades is astounding.

While looking back at Rivera's career this month it donned on me that the right-hander has pitched across many of the major milestones in my own life. Many people of the Jordan generation can probably draw the same Rivera parallels.

Rivera debuted for the Yankees on May 23, 1995. He lasted less than four innings against the California Angels, allowing five runs while striking out five and walking three. He would go on to appear in 19 games that season -- nine as a reliever.

As Rivera was getting his feet wet at the Major League level, I was turning 10. He made his final appearance as a starter on Sept. 5 against the Seattle Mariners, just a few days after a started the fifth grade.

Rivera has been genuine in his faith throughout his career. In 1998, as he helped the Yankees win their second World Series in three years, I made my Confirmation less than an hour drive away from Yankee Stadium.

Just a few years later, Rivera was involved in one of the most memorable moments in baseball history as the Yankees helped New York and the rest of the United States heal the wounds created on Sept. 11, 2001. A scary and ominous time for the entire country, it hit close to home in Southwestern Connecticut.

No one in the tri-state area will forget watching the Yankees beat the Oakland Athletics and Seattle Mariners on their way to the World Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. In what Sports Illustrated voted as the best Postseason Game of that decade, Rivera blew the save and Luis Gonzalez hit a soft single over an outstretched Derek Jeter to drive in the winning, title-clinching run.

Rivera pitched 141 playoff innings during his career, a mind-blowing number, especially when you consider he allowed just 11 earned runs over those 96 appearances.

In 2003, the year I graduated high school, Rivera had his best season to date. He compiled 40 saves over 64 appearances, pitching to a 1.66 ERA. He struck out 63 batters in less than 71 innings and broke countless bats.

The Yankees went to yet another World Series that October, my first full month away from home as an undergraduate in Massachusetts, facing the upstart Florida Marlins. The Marlins knocked off the Yankees, but Rivera wasn’t at fault. He pitched four innings against Miami, striking out four, walking none and allowing just two hits. He failed to surrender a single run.

Rivera allowed four runs in over 36 career innings, compiling a 0.99 ERA in the Fall Classic. He was 2-1 with 11 saves in 24 appearances. 

It would have qualified as a good season for most relievers, but Rivera posted a 3.15 ERA -- his highest over a full season -- in 2007. I graduated college that spring, making what was a very good year for me a "down" year for the Mo.

Rivera won his fifth, and final, World Series as the Yankees topped the Philadelphia Phillies in 2009. That September, I moved into my first house with my long-time girlfriend. The year Rivera got one for his thumb; my wife got one for her ring finger.

This season has been a memorable one for Rivera and the growing Perna family. As Rivera has visited ballparks across Major League Baseball, he has been showered with gifts as he hangs up his famous cutter.

On the same day that Rivera reached his 15th 30-save season this July, my wife and I learned that we are expecting twin boys. As his Hall of Fame career comes to an end, two more baseball fans are about to enter the world. I can only hope they are one day able to connect with such a respected athlete as they mature through life’s many phases.