Summertime

Nat King Cole was my grandmother's favorite. When she was dying from the cancer in 1985, her eye-sight almost gone, she was admitted to Sloane Kettering Hospital in NY. I was living in Miami and made several trips up during those months to visit. She was so uncomfortable, especially from the boredom and not being about to read or watch TV, that it gave me an idea. When I returned to Florida from the last trip, I bought a nifty (at the time) Sony cassette player and a Nat King Cole Greatest Hits tape. I loaded the machine with the tape and put a sign on it with big letters pointing to the Play button, "PRESS HERE." I sent it to her FedEx. They say she died a few days later, listening to that tape, smiling.

Now, all these years later I'm reminded of that tape and this song because I am having the best lazy, hazy days of summer of my entire life. My kids are 12, 9 and 5, and have enjoyed our frequent trips to the beach so much that it's just delightful. My boy, the youngest, screams for joy and holds on to me for dear life entering the water. The girls play on the inflatable raft for hours.

We're going later this morning.