Not that anybody needs any personalization to reel at the horror of the Paris insanity, but I just read that attackers targeted the disabilities section at the rock concert, blasting away at people in wheelchairs. If Ben had been there, that would have been his section. Ben's twin brother, Jake, is a long-time death metal lover and concert-goer, and if he had happened to be in Paris, there is a great chance he would have been at the event. I am trying to shake images from my mind. No, this isn't a nursery school shooting, or a grammar school shooting, but for parents, whether our sons or daughters are five years old, or 45 years old, our children are always that, our children.

And seeing headlines referring to "extremists," I wish the journalism world would more accurately refer to them as "nutbag mass murders."

Spending days with Ben actually insulates us from the rest of the world's tragedies -- he always requires full attention. So yesterday we drove over to western New York to see how Lake Erie in NY compares to Lake Erie in Pennsylvania and Lake Erie in Ohio. No Homeland Security required.