When I Can't Remember, You Can
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present, with 1963 flashback

"I want to get it down while it's all still here, so that when I can't remember, you can."

This one's for you kids, Emma, Jack, Lily, Sam. I know you probably won't listen to these for a while. Maybe not until you're older, and that's fine, that's fine. But I wanted to say some things while I — I forget things now, I know I do. I told the Snowfort story twice at Thanksgiving, and nobody said anything, but I could see Sarah's face. And last week, I called Jack Tommy. And then I called him Harold. And he just said, it's Jack, Grandma. And I knew that. I knew that. But the names, they swim around now. So that's why I'm doing this. I want to get it down while it's all still here, so that when I can't remember, you can.

I want to tell you something about my mother. I kept mentioning her and not finishing. She had this saying. She'd say, Margaret, the extraordinary things are the ordinary things. And I thought that was the dumbest thing I'd ever heard. I was 15, Joan Baez was playing in Boston, '63 I think, and I wanted to go and my mother said no. And I said my life is boring and nothing happens here. And she said that, the extraordinary and the ordinary. And I rolled my eyes so hard, I'm surprised they came back.

And it took me most of my life to — I don't know how to say it without sounding like a greeting card. I'm not going to try. You've heard my stories. You know what I mean.

Jack, you're so much like your grandfather, it scares me sometimes. You don't talk much, and you notice everything. Don't wait 52 years to write it down. Whatever you're thinking about that girl in your math class — yeah, your mother told me, don't be mad at her — say it or write it on a piece of yellow paper. Just don't put it in a cookbook.

Emma, you're 17 and you want to change the world. And I believe you. I do. Just don't forget to eat breakfast. I'm serious. The world can wait until after breakfast.

And Lily and Sam, you're 10 and seven and you won't understand most of this for a long time and that's okay. That's how it should be. Just come visit me. Come visit me and we'll make pancakes. David's recipe now with the music. They're getting better.

Take care of each other. That's really the only thing I know for sure. Take care of each other and call your mothers. And if someone asks you to dance and they're wearing a terrible shirt — sorry, I thought I could get through this one without. Okay, I think that's everything I wanted to say. Harold would say, Maggie, the grocery store, six towns. He'd say I took the long way to say something simple. He's probably right. There it is.

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People: Emma, Jack, Lily, Sam, Sarah, Harold, Tommy, David, Joan Baez