We continue to make our way by both sharing time and each doing our own thing.  This morning she had to get ready for her upcoming trip, and I went to Sanderson to work out.  Got back in time to get cleaned up, eat lunch, and hurry to meet her to do a mock interview with the girl who is Starkville's DYW.  It's fun to watch such bright kids in action ... and there were two of the past DYW winners who served as interviewers as well.  Again, it's interesting and rewarding to see how much those young ladies have grown in intellect and confidence and to know that my wife played a significant part in that.  Got back in time to watch my boys from Espana go down to the Croats in Euro.  (Hard not to be happy for the underdog though.)  Went to Farmers Market and got some veggies, came back, worked out a menu, and began preparing squash, a coconut almond rice dish, green beans, and grill salmon.  It all turned out well with Susan's help, so we had a nice meal together and watched our Netflix flicks.

Had something to deal with today and tonight that isn't any fun, but is important.  One of my favorite Pike pledge brothers from 50 yrs. ago had both liver cancer and a heart problem a couple of years ago.  I learned from another one of our brothers that they had recently found 2 small spots on his liver and that he would undergo surgery in Jackson in 2 days to get them taken care of.  This evening he and I talked, and he is very upbeat, as always.  I have an list of about 150 old Pikes and sent an email to those closest to Tommy letting them know what was going on with him and asking them to pray for him, as he had asked me to do.  Cancer is nothing to joke about, and we have lost some brothers, including 2 of my best friends, to it.  Yet as I was building an email list of those closest to Tommy, I was struck by how many cancer survivors we have.  It's bad, but it's not automatically fatal, as it was not so long ago.  Anyhow, I've shared the news with those who most need to know, and he'll go to the top of my prayer list.  I'm optimistic for him for now ... it helps that he's always positive.  As I said to some of my friends not long ago, the toughest part of growing old isn't the certainty of my own mortality, but having to deal with the illness and death of those I care about and have shared life with.  Real life is not for sissies.