a final grandmother post
My grandmother died two Fridays ago. Peacefully and at home. She was almost 102. Her caretakers are mourning her like she was their own mother. I’m just relieved and grateful she finally let go. The last 10 years of her life were needlessly full of suffering, especially the last three and a half.
“When I go,” my grandmother had always told me, “make sure you check all the pocketbooks in that closet, because that’s where I keep cash.” I texted the caretakers: “Please look through her purses for cash. Whatever you find, take it. Go have a nice dinner somewhere and think about something happy.”
In that same spirit of thinking about happy things, here’s one of my favorite grandmother stories, which maybe I’ve already shared here.
My first year in San Francisco, I got a voicemail from her. “Margaret, please call me. I’m very upset with you.”
I panicked. What had I done wrong? How could I make this sweet old lady mad at me?
I called her back right away. “Hi! What’s up?”
(This was right around Pride or the Folsom Street Fair, big events in San Francisco that tend to get a lot of regional media attention.)
In the most serious tone she had ever used with me, she said:
"I have a whole leather outfit in my closet, and you didn’t invite me to the gay parade!”
I heaved a sigh of relief as she dissolved into a 3-minute giggle fit.
Links
There is a pill that treats alcoholism. Imagine how many lives this can save. (Slate)
My friends who have survived breast cancer probably already know this, but just in case: Apparently there is a new blood test that can predict if breast cancer will come back with 100% accuracy. (Yahoo)
“And then some absolute son of a bitch created ChatGPT, and now look at us. Look at us, resplendent in our pauper's robes, stitched from corpulent greed and breathless credulity, spending half of the planet's engineering efforts to add chatbot support to every application under the sun when half of the industry hasn't worked out how to test database backups regularly.” And he’s just getting warmed up. (Author blog)
RIP Etsy. (Boing Boing)
LOL: Bro camp in Bali. (Instagram)
Supposedly when your car’s air conditioning goes out, you can just pound on your dashboard to fix it. (Lifehacker)
When that doesn’t work and you aren’t even halfway down the New Jersey turnpike and your dress is sticking to your back and you are desperate for distraction: Listen to the first episode of the new Kiese/Deesha podcast Reckon True Stories. If you are way more serious about writing than I am, you will probably want to take notes. The Sam Irby episode is going to drop soon, I hope. (Apple)
Nine things that will improve your mood. (Digg)
And here’s number 10: Old gays learning how to pole dance. (Instagram)