tavie.com

I just heard from Ade that Grandpa Al's dead.

I'm so sad right now. Part of it was is my period, but part of it just feels like another part of Roosevelt Island is gone, just like they're building condos over the soccer fields and tearing down the gardens to put up even more condos... and now Grandpa's gone, too.

He hadn't been around much since they cut off his legs a couple years ago because of his diabetes and he started staying all the time at the long-term hospital. But it wasn't too long ago when he was a regular fixture in the diner, or sitting on the bell outside the church or outside the community center, saying hi to everyone and waving his smelly cigar. When he was running for governor a few years ago he very amusingly-- and illegally-- stumped outside my old junior high, where the voting booths on Roosevelt Island are set up every year, passing out fliers and shaking everyone's hands.

We all called him Grandpa. The kids and the adults, everyone on the island. We grew up seeing him in the elevator-- he lived two floors below us in the building where my parents still live-- and he'd always remark about how much we were growing, or ask about our parents, and he always wore big, loud cowboy hats and huge belt buckles and string ties.

He was the only guy I ever got to call "Grandpa" and I used to really like that because I never had a Grandpa and it's something I've always wanted. He wasn't really anything like a grandpa, just a nice old man who was a fixture in the neighbourhood, but it was still nice to call someone that. Everyone on Roosevelt Island knew him and loved him.

We'll miss you, Grandpa.

Why are you in Tavie's head? 3:11 PM | shower me with attention