More days like this, please. It was so warm that it was almost hot, and instead of the icy wind that blew through here all winter, we had a warm, gentle breeze. It's less than a month until the longest day of the year, so it's staying light out until almost nine o'clock. I love long, sunny days. I could probably live in a tropical land where people sleep in the afternoon and play late into the night. In fact, I took a little siesta today and I'm better off for it.

We lost a member of the family today. Suzanne's cat Sassy, a sweet-tempered, beautiful animal, has had some recent health problems, and they caught up with her this afternoon. Many times over the last fifteen years I've been pulled out of bad mood when Sassy would jump up on my lap and allow me to pet her. She will be missed by all her family and friends. (She's mentioned in last Friday's entry.)

David turns 21 in thirteen days, if he makes it. He's having an awfully bad week. His truck is in the shop, waiting to be towed to the dealer so that they can certify what's wrong and tow it to another shop to be fixed. (There's about a one percent chance all this will happen before the weekend. If that.) So he's driving his dad's truck and accidentally put his hand through the window after locking the keys in it. He came by today, and I have to tell you, those are some ugly cuts all over his hand and arm.

All that might not even be the worst of it. In two weeks he leaves for his birthday celebration in Las Vegas, and he's still waiting for the replacement driver's license to get here from the DMV. He's been on the phone with Sacramento, and he might end up driving there to get it.

Not only would he not be able to prove he's of age in Vegas (and what would be the point of going for your twenty-first birthday if you can't do anything but drive the bumper cars?), but he wouldn't even be allowed on the plane without a picture ID. This isn't going to be funny at all if it doesn't get resolved in time.

But he's resourceful and determined, and somehow no matter how bad things look they always turn out better for him than the worst-case scenario. It's just that it's so much more satisfying to break out into the sunshine if you have to come out of a deep, dark hole first. I think it comes from living life so fully that sometimes the chuckholes swallow you up, and there's nothing for it but to keep going.

It's good to know that Tom Brokaw will continue to bring us the NBC Nightly News through 2004, after which we'll have a smooth transition to the Brian Williams administration. Will there still be nightly network news shows in 2005? Does anyone still watch them now? Anyone on the west coast anyway, where we get occasional updates inserted into a newscast taped three hours earlier for eastern consumption. That's not what I call news.