2024 Monday — Our Buddy Mike

Fifty-five years ago our best friend, Mike Wagner, was killed in an auto accident on his way home from work. Today the two of us have been reminiscing about this very special friend.

On Monday, October 13th, 1969, Mike’s wife, his 2 year old son, and his father, who was visiting from Chicago, were waiting for him to arrive home from his day at work so they could all have dinner together. He was just two blocks from home when the accident happened. His heart continued to beat for another 7 or 8 hours and then he was gone. On October 8th, six days earlier, he had celebrated his 23rd birthday.

We were all so young, so inexperienced, so unprepared for the ugliness that life can dish-up. We knew so little about eternity. We lived in the immediate. We were devastated by the loss.

For the two of us, lingering today in the memory of Mike does not mitigate the sadness or the horrifying tragedy of his young death, but it somehow helps to balance the scale of life, if even just a little. We have chosen always to focus on Mike's life, not his death.

Mike's family had moved into Mr.Fun's neighborhood, when both boys were young teenagers. They became instant friends when they discovered that they had similar interests in sports car races and 10-speed bicycles. They built model cars together and listened for hours to the music of The Kingston Trio. They graduated from high school the same year--Mike was serious about academics and Tom was Mr. Fun, the class clown. They started attending college at the same time, and then Mike & Sally got married one year after us.

Tom & I have fond memories, dozens of them, of times spent with Mike & Sally. We enjoyed many common interests: our marriages, our children, freetime, TV programs, music, ice cream cones at 31 Flavors, and always cars--sports car races, formula one, and slot cars.

In the loss of our dear friend we have always tried to find meaning and to grow. We have never stopped missing him. His life enhanced and contributed enormously to ours, and his memory still does. Today we celebrate Mike's life and are so thankful for the friendship we had with him.
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Ann Voskamp thoughts about grief: "The grief is simply proof that you're invested in living & loving. *Grief is the guaranteed price we pay for love.* And in the grief & paying that price, there's this enfolding comfort -- of knowing we are spending our lives on the best things."
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From California’s Central Coast,
Rosie (& Mr. Fun), aka Carol
and Chloe & Mitzi too!