Mike Cavaliere

— real, funny stories —

Scenes of Grief & Gratitude

November 23, 2023

A vacation-turned-funeral proves that life isn’t like the movies. But holidays happen whether your head is in them or not. So what are you thankful for?

She didn’t even clutch her arm.

In the movies, they always clutch their left arm before a heart attack. They paw at their chest. They huff, “I need to sit down.”

These are the warning signs.

Read the full column on the Palm Coast Observer.

My grandma, Jean Szegfu, died on the first day of a family reunion we organized in Tennessee to celebrate her life. Pictured here with my late grandfather, “Ziggy,” she used to slip my brother and me cash on the sly, folded in her palm like she was fixing boxing fights, whenever a trip would end and it was time for one of us to head home. The last of my grandparents, her loss signaled a loud generational shift in our family. Soon after, her house, where my mother and her three siblings grew up, was sold.

Grandma’s trip is over. She’s headed home. Imagine this story folded tightly in my palm like a worn-out 20, then released into the wind.

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