I ask only two things out of a day: to let me sleep late, or to give me a reason to get up. Dragging my weary carcass out of bed is the hardest thing I ever do, so there had better be some purpose behind it.

So today we celebrated the start of David's birthday week. Ordinarily we do something on the actual day, but he's a little hard to pin down lately, so we collared him for a Sunday brunch and forced him to open presents and read cards right there in front of us.

It was just the immediate family, including the newest member. Well, Tammy isn't official yet, but she and David are pretty convincing in how serious they seem to be. David will only be 22 on Wednesday, but he's done a lot of living in those years. It's kind of fun to see what he's like when he's thinking of himself as part of something bigger.

I don't want to jinx anything, but I don't really believe I have that power. Whatever will be will be. What's going on now is really all that matters, and it's special in its own right. The future will take care of itself.

And then, after brunch, I came home and collapsed. I could not keep my eyes open for most of the afternoon, but it was worth it. We had a lot of fun, laughing as Tammy brought back whipped cream from the dessert bar at Marie Callender's and smeared it on David's face. Almost everyone thought it was funny. David pretended not to, but I know him well enough to know that he's a good actor.