I went to Florida this past weekend for my grandmother’s 90th birthday party. Ninety years, what a kick. She was in great spirits, and it was terribly fun to see her so happy. Both nights she looked beautiful, stylish and bejeweled, though of course she has shrunk down to a tiny person by now, and I felt careful around her fragile self. She said also she couldn’t see that well anymore, so she couldn’t read, and audiobooks didn’t seem to work for her either. I was bummed for her in that respect. My sister-in-law (who works in publishing and is probably a bigger reader than I am) and I both agreed later that we could handle a lot in life as long as we had our books. That might be the end for me, my friends, when there’s no more stories left to consume.
Oh, mortality! It’s impossible not to consider it in Florida. Everywhere you look there’s wrinkled, overly tan skin and, frankly, skin cancer, in some cases taking on bizarre physical manifestations. The man who sold me gum at the local newsstand had bright pink and yellow growths sprouting from the side of his face like a mushroom on a tree. It was traumatizing – though obviously way worse for him, of course. I could not wipe the image from my head all day, and days later I am still having trouble shaking it.
Why did I look twice at his face? Because I did not believe it was real. This is a problem I have sometimes.
Later on the beach I saw two sun worshippers so wrinkled and skinny it appeared as if they had been shrinkwrapped. But they were sipping champagne gleefully for hours, dipping their toes in the water, gossiping about their neighbors, laughing gently. For lack of a better expression, at least they were just enjoying the ride.
I don’t have much else to say about it. Just everyone use sunscreen, OK? Everyone use sunscreen.
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I would like to invite you all to attend this amazing event at City Winery on September 23: John Wesley Harding’s Cabinet of Wonders. I will be reading, and there will be musical performances from Eleanor Friedberger, Andrew VanWyngarden, Tony Visconti, Dan Zanes. I’m really excited. Buy tickets here.
