Have you ever noticed how individuals continue to evolve after they die? Maybe it doesn’t happen in every family but it does in mine. One of my uncles, who we will call Cal for convenience, led a life after death that was completely different than the one he had lived as a mortal. He achieved personal and professional successes that were unprecedented in his life and he became one of the greatest lovers of the twentieth century. He continued to change and make brilliant comments on contemporary issues until thirty years after his death. Once his wife passed away, early in 2013, he became silent. I remember him most for his untied shoes, Olympic class smoking and his great idea to blast all our nuclear waste into space. He also made a great Silver Fizz. I can only hope that our Gurley Street Gin will end up in a Gin Fizz as good as Uncle Cal’s.

I have been thinking about death a lot lately and wondering if it’s not just the good that die young but also just the beautiful. Whenever people present a photo of a relative or friend who died young the viewer invariably comments on how beautiful they were. I’m wondering if it is less of a loss if they weren’t beautiful or if everyone who dies young is indeed beautiful. One of my friends tells me that I am too cynical and that youth always has its own beauty. I’m not sure. There were several girls in junior high that would have been distasteful even in death. Perhaps it is just the Dorian Gray effect captured in digital eternity. At any rate, according to a note in a well respected medical journal, alcohol consumption is good for your autoimmune system, and at the very least you look a lot better when I drink.