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The Next Generation
Jul. 27th, 2015 11:44 amYoung Haley is quite the serious-minded young woman. Very thoughtful and observant, and utterly swanlike:
We saw An American in Paris. Staged incarnation of the classic Gershwin movie. The male lead did an uncanny imitation of Gene Kelly – a very athletic dance style. I think Haley enjoyed it – it’s hard to get an exact read on what Haley enjoys and doesn’t enjoy since she’s so incredibly polite. Remembering back to when I was 17, outings with elderly female relatives were not high on my own list of fun things to do. But she does a lot of musical comedy herself, so how could she not enjoy it?
At this point, she’s interested in going to med school to become a research neuropharmocologist to find a cure for dementia –
“People are living longer,” she said. “Except their bodies aren’t really up to the challenge. Two of my male relatives actually died of complications from dementia –“
“Yes,” I said. “Your grandfather and your great-grandfather. I knew Jay a little in those last years, you know, and it does seem that Rik got sick from exactly the same thing that Jay got sick with. Does it worry you that it might be genetic?”
“A bit,” she said.
“I suspect it’s a Y chromosome-related thing,” I said. “But keep a close eye on your great-aunt Karen just to make sure. Come to think of it, she was acting a bit wonky at Rick’s memorial –“
This elicited a rare Haley laugh.
After the show, we met up with the utterly delightful Trevor K_________s, successful young professionals living the Good Life in Battery Park with their remarkably photogenic offspring:
We talked about the K________s a bit on the subway ride back up to Columbia. “There’s a huge age gap between Trevor and his brothers,” Haley remarked. “He’s in his 30s, but I think Steven and Kevin are in their 40s.”
“Steven is 50,” I said. Steven being the K________ brother I’d crushed on so heavily at Rick’s memorial. “I asked him. So what’s the deal with Steven running off and joining the army at age 17?”
“I don’t know,” Haley said. “He’s a bit off, I’ve always thought.”
Certainly Steven’s affect is very different from that of his two brothers, both of whom are talented schmoozers and, of course, work in the financial industry! Steven is tentative, a bit socially awkward. I found that endearing.
“You know, your great aunt Karen actually has a rather tragic story,” I said to Haley. “She was married before.”
“Was she?” said Haley. “I didn’t know.”
“Yes. Her first husband drowned. On their honeymoon. He took a sailboat out, and he went down. And then she disappeared, ran away. Nobody knew where she’d gone. Hazel was besides herself. It was Rik who found her.”
“I did not know that,” Haley said. She was focusing intensely on her phone. “Generation Z doesn’t do Facebook,” she’d explained to Trevor and me earlier in the evening. “We do Instagram and Snapchat. Oh, and we text. We’re actually quite offended by people who waste our time calling and leaving voicemail.”
Thus do the older generation’s most searing narratives turn into dust or background noise.
Ever thus.
Oh, and the other weird thing that happened yesterday was that halfway through the afternoon, my right knee began to ache fearsomely for no apparent reason. It was so painful that I honestly figured that the first thing I’d have to do this morning was rush off to a surgeon and get the knee amputated – although, of course, stoic R Us so there wasn't a single peep about the throbbing knee out of my mouth, and I didn’t let it slow me down.
But when I woke up this morning, there was nary a twinge.
Odd.
Getting old: Not for Sissies.
We saw An American in Paris. Staged incarnation of the classic Gershwin movie. The male lead did an uncanny imitation of Gene Kelly – a very athletic dance style. I think Haley enjoyed it – it’s hard to get an exact read on what Haley enjoys and doesn’t enjoy since she’s so incredibly polite. Remembering back to when I was 17, outings with elderly female relatives were not high on my own list of fun things to do. But she does a lot of musical comedy herself, so how could she not enjoy it?
At this point, she’s interested in going to med school to become a research neuropharmocologist to find a cure for dementia –
“People are living longer,” she said. “Except their bodies aren’t really up to the challenge. Two of my male relatives actually died of complications from dementia –“
“Yes,” I said. “Your grandfather and your great-grandfather. I knew Jay a little in those last years, you know, and it does seem that Rik got sick from exactly the same thing that Jay got sick with. Does it worry you that it might be genetic?”
“A bit,” she said.
“I suspect it’s a Y chromosome-related thing,” I said. “But keep a close eye on your great-aunt Karen just to make sure. Come to think of it, she was acting a bit wonky at Rick’s memorial –“
This elicited a rare Haley laugh.
After the show, we met up with the utterly delightful Trevor K_________s, successful young professionals living the Good Life in Battery Park with their remarkably photogenic offspring:
We talked about the K________s a bit on the subway ride back up to Columbia. “There’s a huge age gap between Trevor and his brothers,” Haley remarked. “He’s in his 30s, but I think Steven and Kevin are in their 40s.”
“Steven is 50,” I said. Steven being the K________ brother I’d crushed on so heavily at Rick’s memorial. “I asked him. So what’s the deal with Steven running off and joining the army at age 17?”
“I don’t know,” Haley said. “He’s a bit off, I’ve always thought.”
Certainly Steven’s affect is very different from that of his two brothers, both of whom are talented schmoozers and, of course, work in the financial industry! Steven is tentative, a bit socially awkward. I found that endearing.
“You know, your great aunt Karen actually has a rather tragic story,” I said to Haley. “She was married before.”
“Was she?” said Haley. “I didn’t know.”
“Yes. Her first husband drowned. On their honeymoon. He took a sailboat out, and he went down. And then she disappeared, ran away. Nobody knew where she’d gone. Hazel was besides herself. It was Rik who found her.”
“I did not know that,” Haley said. She was focusing intensely on her phone. “Generation Z doesn’t do Facebook,” she’d explained to Trevor and me earlier in the evening. “We do Instagram and Snapchat. Oh, and we text. We’re actually quite offended by people who waste our time calling and leaving voicemail.”
Thus do the older generation’s most searing narratives turn into dust or background noise.
Ever thus.
Oh, and the other weird thing that happened yesterday was that halfway through the afternoon, my right knee began to ache fearsomely for no apparent reason. It was so painful that I honestly figured that the first thing I’d have to do this morning was rush off to a surgeon and get the knee amputated – although, of course, stoic R Us so there wasn't a single peep about the throbbing knee out of my mouth, and I didn’t let it slow me down.
But when I woke up this morning, there was nary a twinge.
Odd.
Getting old: Not for Sissies.
