OF A GOLDEN AGE

Now that I’m old I don’t wear underwear
I don’t go to church and I don’t cut my hair
But I can go to movies and see it all there
The way that it used to be.
(Jimmy Buffett)

For most of my life the only grandparent I had left was my maternal grandfather, who was one of the best people I’ve ever met or whom I imagine exist anywhere. He was shrewd, generous, lionhearted, and above all, unfathomably kind. It’s been about three and a half years since he died, and I think about him almost every day, usually more than once. I use one of his old coffee cups at work and his old couch takes up most of my studio apartment. I also pretty often hear myself singing one of his favorite songs, which was written decades even before he was born.

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