Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 1:00 a.m. in "The City."

Normally, I eschew the politics of daily life because they are too often more than I can bear. I am not going to change that course this morning. Instead, I am going to recap some of the places and times that are part and parcel to the lives of myself and my small family, and also the lives of so many others.

Naturally, the upcoming Father's Day wouldn't be possible without Mary, and by extension, Adam. Nearly 41 years ago, I was in a hospital waiting room about 6:00 a. m., when a Lutheran minister came in and said my name. My heart jumped into my throat, but when he said that your wife and your son are fine, I was able to swallow and our new lives began with the birth of a 9 lb. 9 and 3/4 oz. baby boy who was 23 inches long. Mary and I had decided to name him Adam if he was a boy. Fortunately for him, had he been a girl, Mary and I had talked about naming her Sunshine, Sunny for short. Hey, we were children of the 1960s.

Mary still smiles when she remembers that it was a decision left to her when the nurse asked what his name would be. Instead of Adam, he could have been an entirely different person. Somehow, Adam seems to have suited him well. His middle name, Joshua, when coupled with his first name, would have been good initials on a sports jersey. A. J. W.

But I digress. I was prompted to go in this direction by the horrific events of Wednesday evening in a church in Charleston, S.C. There, so many lives were altered by the events that occurred in a place of history and worship.

The lives of both the living and the victims were altered in ways that should never have happened. Why? There are many factors already cited and many more that will be cited and speculated about over the next days, weeks, and months. So many lives were changed, so many events that will never be experienced or which will bring bittersweet memories. Births, graduations, marriages, vacations, and the sheer joy of living that will never take place.

Early in Adam's life, he and I used to travel about while Mary was sleeping due to her overnight hours. Unlike Charles Dickens, there were no worst of times for us. To borrow from a Ronnie Milsap song, "I wouldn't have missed it for the world." During his formative years, we traveled to Graue Mill in Oakbrook, IL, because it was a free destination. We made a trip to La Crosse, WI to see the "World's Largest Six-Pack." It belonged to the then independent G. Heileman Brewing Co. It was in fact a series of storage tanks that the brewery had painted for advertising. Adam was dwarfed by their size, but he looked great in the pictures. Somewhere in his youth, we also visited the now closed Opryland theme park and rode the roller coasters and saw the Grand Ole Opry at the auditorium there.

We took more than a few trips to Dixon, IL to see the sights of Lowell Park and the nearby John Deere historic site in Grand Detour, IL. One again, there was no charge for admission. We took time to go to the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village in Dearborn, MI too. Adam has since visited there himself. I guess he liked it.

When Adam was about 12 or so, we took a trip to Disney World in Orlando, FL on the occasion of it's 25th anniversary. We stopped in Daytona Beach too, to see a professional, no holds barred, $25,000.00 cage wrestling match. Strangely, one of the wrestlers was disqualified for an illegal hold. There are many more memories in our lives, but this truncated list is my way of saying that all of the things that are often considered mundane and trivial, are very important to all families. First birthday parties, graduations at all levels, marriages, family gatherings, and trips with G'ma are part and parcel to the fabric of life.

Some of the people who were killed yesterday had already experienced those mundane and trivial things we call life. Some were parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. All were family. However, some will never get to experience the firsts, seconds, thirds or whatever number comes with the daily passage of time. That's why I believe that it is important to enjoy and to experience while you can.

Mary and I would never have had the pleasure to know Stephany. We would never have had the chance to know Barb. There are so many people, places, and things that I could list, but that would be belaboring the point.

No trainspotting, no sports report, no weather forecast today, just whimsy and memories. Ciao.