My grandpa seemed to embrace William Butler Yeats’ idea of not knowing strangers.He was friendly to all until his last days.

This is my favorite picture of him and me, taken right before he passed away in 2015.

Even before the terrible Alzheimer’s disease that ultimately took his mind, I remember he was always friendly with others.  As a little girl in the coffee shop, I would watch him greet all with a word and a smile. In today’s contentious America, I want to be like grandpa. I want this to be my theme song: