My grandmother is always humming

Humming, or singing, or whistling as she rearranges the decorative soaps by the bathroom mirror

If not, she is playing the piano in her livign room, one of the older songs from the 1950s, you know, by Frank Sinatra or someone - you know, when I was your age, I'd go out with my two sisters, and we'd dance to this song. They always liked that I was dating your grandfather since he was old enough to drive us around, and we would dance and dance just like you and your friends, oh, what are their names, the two on your street - ah, it doesn't matter, but we would dance like you to songs like this

I never knew how she knew we danced

How the three girls on my block and I would sing to Brittney Spears, sing over the heartbreak and homework

My grandmother is always making music

If not, she is telling stories, often, of my grandfather

How he went up to me at a polka, when they used to have those, dear, and he didn't even know how to polka! He just came to see me! Well, my sisters and I dragged him out to the floor and taught him how to do it - he was so embarassed, I could tell, you know how I can tell theset higns, but he kept dancing anyway

And my grandfather laughs quietly to himself, and the next time they see a dance floor at my cousin's wedding, he asks for her hand, and they are the best ones there by miles

Whenever we visit, my grandmother asks me to play whatever I'm learning on the piano as my grandfather pretends not to listen

She always cries when I finish, but my grandfather asks me to play it one more time

To play "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" because he knows it's my grandmother's favorite

And she always looks at my hands, always takes them, and says, you know, honey, I used to have hands like yours. You have such beautiful, young hands - do you moisturize? I've been using this hand cream every night (oh I'll have to show you later) but my hands are still so vein-y. You have piano hands, honey, always take care of them

One night, as we sit between the stars and the mosquitoes, they ask me what my goals are

I tell them I want to be a writer, I want to go to this university and major in that, do x, y, and z by 30

My grandmother smiles and says "You're just so excited for your life to begin."

My grandfather asks me to play again for him, and the three of us walk back to the piano, my grandmother humming all the while.