Marilyn and I just returned from spending a week with her brother, Danny, and his family in Nevada. I love Danny. He has a heart of gold. He loves his family, Giants baseball, F1 racing, fishing, and working on his Mustang. And maybe one of the things I love most about Danny is how much he l.oves his sister. It is unmistakable, even to a casual observer. It reminds me of the relationship I once had with my own brother. Then, on the drive back to Colorado, we spent a day in Yosemite and the...

Yum. There was a time in my life when a cup of coffee was just something I drank to get the day started. Or to keep it going. When I was in the Marine Corps, I remember sitting in a small van jammed with radio equipment, listening to static, drinking cup after cup to make it through the night. Or later, when my kids were newborns and sleep was constantly disrupted by cries for a bottle or a clean diaper. The only way to get through the endless series of conference calls the next day was...

And Pleasure Doesn't Have to Feel Pleasurable At least a few days a week, I like to sit quietly with a cup of coffee and write in my journal. Sometimes a topic comes quickly and naturally. Other times, I ask an AI for a prompt. Monday morning was one of those days. Unlike most of the prompts it offers, this one seemed rather lighthearted. Easy. Or at least that's how it started. "What do I genuinely enjoy that doesn’t need to mean anything?" My answers came easily and quickly: "Music,...