{"id":622,"date":"2026-06-21T12:40:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T12:40:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=622"},"modified":"2026-06-21T12:40:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T12:40:21","slug":"happy-go-lucky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=622","title":{"rendered":"Happy-Go-Lucky"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

Something about a car running over a policeman and a second officer being injured. This is my assessment of a news story broadcast on the television in my father\u2019s room at Springmoor, the retirement community where he\u2019s spent the past three years in the assisted-living section. It is early April, three days before his ninety-eighth birthday, and Amy, Hugh, and I have just flown to Raleigh from New York. The plan is to hang out for a while, and then drive to the Sea Section, our house on Emerald Isle.<\/p>\n

Read more Clearing Out Dad\u2019s Room<\/a><\/p>\n

Dad is in his wheelchair, dressed and groomed for our visit. Hair combed. Real shoes on his feet. A red bandanna tied around his neck \u201cWell, hey!\u201d he calls as we walk in, an old turtle raising his head toward the sun. \u201cGosh, it\u2019s good to see you kids!\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

As Amy and I move in to embrace him, Hugh wonders if we could possibly turn off the TV. \u201cWell, sure,\u201d my father, still smothered in grown children, says. \u201cI don\u2019t even know why it\u2019s on, to tell you the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hugh takes the remote off the bedside table, and, after he\u2019s killed the television, Amy asks if he can figure out the radio. As a non-blood relative, that seems to be his role during our visits to Springmoor\u2014the servant.<\/p>\n

\u201cFind us a jazz station,\u201d I tell him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere we go!\u201d my father says. \u201cThat would be fantastic!\u201d<\/p>\n

Neither Amy nor I care about the news anymore, at least the political news. I am vaguely aware that Andrew Cuomo has fallen out of favor, and that people who aren\u2019t me will be receiving government checks for some reason or other, but that\u2019s about it. When Trump was President, I started every morning by reading the New York Times<\/em>, followed by the Washington Post<\/em>, and would track both papers\u2019 Web sites regularly throughout the day. To be less than vigilant was to fall behind, and was there anything worse than not knowing what Stephen Miller just said about Wisconsin? My friend Mike likened this constant monitoring to having a second job. It was exhausting, and the moment that Joe Biden was sworn into office I let it all go. When the new President speaks, I feel the way I do on a plane when the pilot announces that after reaching our cruising altitude he will head due north, or take a left at Lake Erie. You don\u2019t need to tell me about your job, I always think. Just, you know, do it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n

It\u2019s so freeing, no longer listening to political podcasts\u2014no longer being enraged. I still browse the dailies, skipping over the stories about Covid<\/em>, as I am finished with all that as well. The moment I got my first vaccine shot, I started thinking of the coronavirus the way I think of scurvy\u2014something from a long-ago time that can no longer hurt me, something that mainly pirates get. \u201cYes,\u201d the papers would say. \u201cBut what if there\u2019s a powerful surge this summer?\u00a0This Christmas? A year from now? What if our next pandemic is worse than this one? What if it kills all the fish and cattle and poultry and affects our skin\u2019s reaction to sunlight? What if it forces everyone to live underground and subsist on earthworms?\u201d<\/p>\n

My father tested positive for the coronavirus shortly before Christmas, at around the time he started wheeling himself to the front desk at Springmoor and asking if anyone there had seen his mother. He hasn\u2019t got Alzheimer\u2019s, nothing that severe. Rather, he\u2019s what used to be called \u201csoft in the head.\u201d Gaga. It\u2019s a relatively new development\u2014aside from the time he was discovered on the floor in his house, dehydrated and suffering from a bladder infection, he\u2019s always been not just lucid but commanding.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it happens several times in one day, someone on the staff will contact me,\u201d Lisa told us over the phone. \u201cThen I\u2019ll call and say, \u2018Dad, your mother died in 1976 and is buried beside your father at the Rural Cemetery in Cortland, New York. You bought the plot next to theirs, so that\u2019s where you\u2019ll be going.\u201d<\/p>\n

There had to be a gentler way to say this, but I\u2019m not sure the news really registered, especially after his diagnosis, when he was at his weakest. Every time the phone rang, I expected to hear that he had died. But my father recovered. \u201cWithout<\/em> being hospitalized,\u201d I told my cousin Nancy. \u201cPlus<\/em> he lost ten pounds!\u201d Not that he needed to.<\/p>\n

When I ask him what it was like to have covid<\/em>, he offers a false-sounding laugh. He does that a lot now\u2014\u201cHa-ha!\u201d I suspect it\u2019s a cover for his failed hearing, that rather than saying \u201cCould you repeat that?\u201d he figures it\u2019s a safe bet that you are delivering a joke of some sort. \u201cHugh and I just went to Louisville to see his mother,\u201d I\u2019d said to my dad the last time we were at Springmoor. \u201cJoan is ninety now, and has blood cancer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHa-ha!\u201d<\/p>\n

That was on Halloween. Socially distanced visits were allowed in the outdoor courtyard of my father\u2019s building, and after our allotted thirty minutes were up an aide disguised as a witch wheeled him back to his room.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe costumes must do a real number on some of the residents,\u201d Amy said as we walked with Hugh to our rental car. \u201c\u00a0\u2018And then a vampire came to take my blood pressure!\u2019 \u2018Sure he did, Grandpa.\u2019\u00a0\u201d<\/p>\n

A few days after we saw him, Springmoor was locked down. No one allowed in or out except staff, and all the residents confined to their rooms. The policy wasn\u2019t reversed until six months later. That\u2019s when we flew down from New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou look great, Dad,\u201d Amy says in a voice that is almost but not quite a shout. Hugh has finally found a jazz station, and managed to tune out the static.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n

\u201cWell, I\u2019m a hundred years old!\u201d my father tells us in his whisper of a voice. \u201cCan you beat that?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNinety-eight,\u201d Amy corrects him. \u201cAnd not quite yet. Your birthday is on Monday and today is only Friday.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA hundred years old!\u201d<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t softheadedness but a lifelong tendency to exaggerate. \u201cWhat the hell are you still doing up?\u201d he\u2019d demand of my brother, my sisters, and me every school night of our lives. \u201cIt\u2019s one o\u2019clock in the morning!\u201d<\/p>\n

We\u2019d point to the nearest clock. \u201cActually, it\u2019s nine-forty-five.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one o\u2019clock, dammit!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen how come \u2018Barnaby Jones\u2019 is still on?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGo to bed!\u201d<\/p>\n

Amy has brought my father some chocolate turtles, and as he watches she opens the box, then hands him one.\u201cYour room looks good, too. It\u2019s clean, and your stuff fits in real well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not bad, is it?\u201d my father says. \u201cYou might not believe it, but this is the exact same square footage as the house, the basement of it, anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is simply not true, but we let it go.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a few things I\u2019d like to get rid of, but as a whole it\u2019s not too cluttered,\u201d he observes, turning a jerky semicircle in his wheelchair. \u201cThat was a real problem for me once upon a time. I used to be the king<\/em> of clutter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Were I his decorator, I\u2019d definitely lose the Christmas tree that stands collecting dust on the console beneath his TV. It is a foot and a half tall, and made of plastic. Naked it might be O.K., but its baubles\u2014which are the size of juniper berries, and gaudy\u2014depress me. Beside it is a stack of cards sent by people I don\u2019t know, or whose names I only vaguely recognize from the Greek Orthodox church. \u201cHas the priest been by?\u201d I ask.<\/p>\n

My father nods. \u201cA few times. He doesn\u2019t much like me, though.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amy takes a seat on the bed. \u201cWhy not?\u201d<\/p>\n

He laughs. \u201cLet\u2019s just say I\u2019m not as generous as I could be!\u201d<\/p>\n

My father is thinner than the last time I saw him, but somehow his face is fuller. Something else is different as well, but I can\u2019t put my finger on it. It\u2019s like when celebrities get face-lifts. I can see they\u2019ve undergone a change, but I can never tell exactly what it is. Examining a photo on some gossip site, I\u2019ll wonder, What is<\/em> it? The eyes? The mouth? \u201cYou don\u2019t look the same, for some reason,\u201d I say to my father.<\/p>\n

He turns from me to Hugh, and then to Amy. \u201cWell, you<\/em> do. All of you do. The only one who\u2019s changed is me. I\u2019m a hundred years old!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNinety-eight on Monday,\u201d Amy says.<\/p>\n

\u201cA hundred years old!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHave you had your Covid<\/em> shots?\u201d I ask, knowing that he has.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure,\u201d he says. \u201cMaybe.\u201d<\/p>\n

I pick up a salmon carved out of something hard and porous, an antler maybe. It used to be in his basement office at the house. This was before he turned every room into an office, and buried himself in envelopes. \u201cHugh and I and Amy, we\u2019ve each had one shot.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n

My father laughs. \u201cWell, good for you. I haven\u2019t had a drink since I got here.\u201d<\/p>\n

At first, I take this as a non sequitur. Then I realize that by \u201cshot\u201d he thinks we mean a shot of alcohol.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t let you drink?\u201d I ask.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, you can have a little, I guess, but it\u2019s not easy. You have to order it in advance, like medicine, and you only get a thimbleful,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you think would happen if you had a screwdriver?\u201d Amy asks.<\/p>\n

He thinks for a moment. \u201cI\u2019d probably get an erection!\u201d<\/p>\n

I really like this new version of my father. He\u2019s charming and positive and full of surprises. \u201cOne of the things I like about us as a family is that we laugh,\u201d he says. \u201cAlways! As far back as I can remember. It\u2019s what we\u2019re known for!\u201d<\/p>\n

Most of that laughter had been directed at him, and erupted the moment he left whichever room the rest of us were occupying. A Merriment Club member he definitely was not. But I like that he remembers things differently. \u201cMy offbeat sense of humor has won me a lot of friends,\u201d he tells us. \u201cA hell of a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more How Matthew Rhys Stays Hungry<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cFriends here<\/em>?\u201d Amy asks.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll over the damn place! Even the kids I used to roller-skate with, they come by sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

He opens his hand and we see that the chocolate turtle he\u2019s been holding has melted. Amy fetches some toilet paper from the bathroom, and he sits passively as she cleans him off. \u201cWhat is it you\u2019re wearing?\u201d he asks.<\/p>\n

She takes a step back so that he can see her black-and-white polka-dot shift. Over it is a Japanese denim shirt with coaster-size smiley-face patches running up and down the sleeves. Her friend Paul recently told her that she dresses like a fat person, the defiant sort who thinks, You want to laugh, I\u2019ll give you something to laugh at.<\/p>\n

\u201cInteresting,\u201d my father says.<\/p>\n

Whenever the conversation stalls, he turns it back to one of several subjects, the first being the inexpensive guitar he bought me when I was a child and insisted on bringing with him to Springmoor, this after it had sat neglected in a closet for more than half a century. \u201cI\u2019m trying to teach myself to play, but I just can\u2019t find the time to practice.\u201d<\/p>\n

It seems to me that all he has is time. What else is there to do here, shut up in his room? \u201cI\u2019ve got to make some music!\u201d he says. As he shakes his fist in frustration, I notice that he still has some chocolate beneath his thumbnail.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re too hard on yourself, Dad,\u201d Amy tells him. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to do everything, you know. Maybe it\u2019s O.K. to just relax for a change.\u201d<\/p>\n

His second go-to topic is the art work hanging on his walls, most of it bought by him and my mother in the seventies and early eighties. \u201cNow, this,\u201d he says, pointing to a framed serigraph over his bed, \u201cthis I could look at every minute of the day.\u201d It is a sentimental, na\u00eff-style street scene of Paris in the early twentieth century\u2014a veritable checklist of tropes and clich\u00e9s by Michel Delacroix, who defines himself as a \u201cpainter of dreams and of the poetic past.\u201d On the two occasions when my father visited me in the actual Paris, he couldn\u2019t leave fast enough. It\u2019s only in pictures that he can stand the place. \u201cI\u2019ve got to write this guy a letter and tell him what his work means to me,\u201d he says. \u201cThe trick is finding the damn time!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n

Two of the paintings in the room are by my father, done in the late sixties. His art phase came from nowhere, and, during its brief, six-month span, he was prolific, churning out twenty or so canvases, most done with a palette knife rather than a brush. All of them are copies\u2014of van Gogh, of Zurbar\u00e1n and Picasso. They wouldn\u2019t fool anyone, but as children we were awed by his talent. The problem was what to paint, or, in his case, to copy. Some of his choices were questionable\u2014a stagecoach silhouetted against a tangerine-colored sunset comes to mind\u2014but in retrospect they fit right in with the rest of the house. Back in the seventies, we thought of our color scheme as permanently modern. What could replace all that orange and brown and avocado? By the early eighties, it was laughable, but now it\u2019s back and we\u2019re able to think fondly of our milk-chocolate walls, and the stout wicker burro that used to pout atop the piano, one of our father\u2019s acrylic bullfighters seemingly afire on the wall behind it.<\/p>\n

When Dad retired from I.B.M., the art work became a greater part of his identity. He had been<\/em> an engineer, but he was<\/em> an art lover. This didn\u2019t extend to museums\u2014who needed them when he had his living room! \u201cI\u2019m an actual collector, while David, he\u2019s more of an investor,\u201d he sniffed to my friend Lee after I bought a Picasso that was painted by Picasso and did not look\u2014dare I say it\u2014like cake frosting.<\/p>\n

Then, there\u2019s my father\u2019s collection of masks, some of which are hanging high on the wall over his bed. The best of them were made by tribes in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, bought on fly-fishing trips. A few others are African or Mexican. They used to leer down from the panelled wall above the staircase in our house, and it is odd but not unpleasant to see them in this new setting. When walking along the hall at Springmoor, I always peek into the other rooms, none of which resemble my father\u2019s. There are the neighbors, and then there is Dad\u2014Dad who is listening to Eric Dolphy and holding the guitar he has never in his life played. \u201cYou know, four of the strings on this thing came off my old violin, the one I had in grade school!\u201d<\/p>\n

No, they didn\u2019t, but who cares. Before his mind started failing, my father consumed a steady diet of Fox News and conservative talk radio that kept him at a constant boiling point. \u201cWho\u2019s that Black guy?\u201d he demanded in 2014. The family was together at the Sea Section, and we were talking about Michael Brown, who\u2019d been shot and killed three months earlier, in Ferguson, Missouri.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat Black guy?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, you know the one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBill Cosby?\u201d Amy offered.<\/p>\n

\u201cGil Scott-Heron?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cStevie Wonder?\u201d Gretchen called from the living room.<\/p>\n

Lisa said, \u201cDenzel Washington?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know who I mean,\u201d Dad said. \u201cHe\u2019s got that son.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJesse Jackson?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n

\u201cHe\u2019s the one. Always stirring up trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, though, our father has taken a few steps back, and, like me, seems all the better for it. \u201cHow did you feel when Biden was elected?\u201d I ask. The question is a violation of the pact Amy and I made before arriving: Don\u2019t stir him up, don\u2019t confuse him.<\/p>\n

\u201cActually,\u201d he says, \u201cI was for that other one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hugh says, \u201cTrump.\u201d<\/p>\n

My father nods. \u201cThat\u2019s right. I believed what he was telling us. And, well, it seems that I was wrong. That guy was bad news.\u201d<\/p>\n

Never did I expect to hear this: Trump was \u201cbad\u201d and<\/em> \u201cI was wrong\u201d\u2014practically in the same breath. \u201cWho are you?\u201d I want to ask the gentle gnome in front of me. \u201cAnd what have you done with Lou Sedaris?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo Biden\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0. I guess he\u2019s O.K.,\u201d my father says, looking, with his red bandanna, like the leftist he never was.<\/p>\n

Amy, Hugh, and I are just recovering when an aide walks in and announces that it is five o\u2019clock, time for dinner. \u201cI\u2019ll wheel Mr. Sedaris down\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0. \u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, we\u2019ll take him,\u201d Amy says.<\/p>\n

\u201cTake what?\u201d my father asks, confused by the sudden activity.<\/p>\n

I push him out the door and past a TV that\u2019s showing the news. Again the incident at the Capitol. Some people hit by a car, someone shot.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is like that old joke,\u201d I say to my father as we near the dining room. \u201cA man bitches to his wife, \u2018You\u2019re always pushing me around and talking behind my back.\u2019 And she says, \u2018What do you expect\u2014you\u2019re in a wheelchair!\u2019\u00a0\u201d<\/p>\n

My father roars, \u201cHa!\u201d<\/p>\n

The dining room, which fits maybe six tables, is full when we arrive. Women greatly outnumber men, and no one except for us and the staff is ambulatory. The air should smell like food, but instead it smells like Amy, her perfume. She wears so much that it manages to both precede her and<\/em> trail behind her, lingering long after she\u2019s moved on. That said, I like it. A combination of five different scents, none of which is flowery or particularly sweet, it leaves her smelling like a strange cookie, maybe one with pencil shavings in it.<\/p>\n

\u201cEat, why don\u2019t you,\u201d my father says.<\/p>\n

I am conscious of everyone watching. Visitors! Lou has visitors!<\/em><\/p>\n

While Amy and Hugh talk to an aide, my father looks up and pats the space beside him at the table. \u201cStay for dinner. They can make you anything you want.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n

I can\u2019t remember my mother\u2019s last words to me. They were delivered over the phone at the end of a casual conversation. \u201cSee you,\u201d she might have said, or \u201cI\u2019ll call back in a few days.\u201d And in the thoughtless way you respond when you think you have forever with the person on the other end of the line, I likely said, \u201cO.K.\u201d<\/p>\n

My father\u2019s last words to me, spoken in the too-hot, too-bright dining room at his assisted-living facility three days before his ninety-eighth birthday, are \u201cDon\u2019t go yet. Don\u2019t leave.\u201d<\/p>\n

My last words to him\u2014and I think they are as telling as his, given all we\u2019ve been through\u2014are \u201cWe need to get to the beach before the grocery stores close.\u201d They look cold on paper, and when he dies, a few weeks later, and I realize<\/em> they were the last words I said to him, I will think, Maybe I can warm them up onstage when I read this part out loud. For, rather than thinking of his death, I will be thinking of the story of his death, so much so that after his funeral Amy will ask, \u201cDid I see you taking notes during the service?\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019ll be no surprise in her voice. Rather, it will be the way you might playfully scold a squirrel: \u201cDid you just jump up from the deck and completely empty that bird feeder?\u201d<\/p>\n

The squirrel and me\u2014it\u2019s in our nature, though maybe not forever. For our natures, I have just recently learned from my father, can change. Or maybe they\u2019re simply revealed, and the dear, cheerful man I saw that afternoon at Springmoor was there all along, smothered in layers of rage and impatience that burned away as he blazed into the homestretch.<\/p>\n

For the moment, though, leaving the dining room in the company of Hugh and Amy, I am thinking that we\u2019ll have to do this again, and soon. Fly to Raleigh. See Dad. Maybe have a picnic in his room. I\u2019ll talk Gretchen into coming. Lisa will be there, too, and our brother, Paul. All of us together and laughing so loudly we\u2019ll be asked by some aide to close the door. Because, really, isn\u2019t that what we\u2019re known for?\u00a0\u2666<\/p>\n

Read more A Lonely Adolescent Summer, Set to \u201cBad Moon Rising\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

New Yorker Favorites<\/h2>\n
    \n
  • The day the dinosaurs died.<\/li>\n
  • What if you could do it all over?<\/li>\n
  • A suspense novelist leaves a trail of deceptions.<\/li>\n
  • The art of dying.<\/li>\n
  • Can reading make you happier?<\/li>\n
  • A simple guide to tote-bag etiquette.<\/li>\n
  • Sign up for our daily newsletter to receive the best stories from The New Yorker<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    <\/inline-embed><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The author reflects on his last visit with his father: \u201c \u2018Who are you? I want to ask the gentle gnome in front of me. \u2018And what have you done with Lou Sedaris?\u2019 \u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":621,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-personal-history"],"yoast_head":"\nHappy-Go-Lucky - City Relocation News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=622\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Happy-Go-Lucky - City Relocation News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The author reflects on his last visit with his father: \u201c \u2018Who are you? I want to ask the gentle gnome in front of me. \u2018And what have you done with Lou Sedaris?\u2019 \u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=622\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"City Relocation News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-21T12:40:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"18 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/?p=622#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/?p=622\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3e7ce0c0c60d21e12a5ac61fb2b786d4\"},\"headline\":\"Happy-Go-Lucky\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-21T12:40:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/?p=622\"},\"wordCount\":3637,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/?p=622#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/cd96eaf1869c480e962d90b75cb144c9.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Personal History\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/?p=622#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/?p=622\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/?p=622\",\"name\":\"Happy-Go-Lucky - City Relocation News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/?p=622#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/?p=622#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/cd96eaf1869c480e962d90b75cb144c9.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-21T12:40:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3e7ce0c0c60d21e12a5ac61fb2b786d4\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/?p=622#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/?p=622\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/?p=622#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/cd96eaf1869c480e962d90b75cb144c9.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/cd96eaf1869c480e962d90b75cb144c9.webp\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/?p=622#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Happy-Go-Lucky\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"City Relocation News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3e7ce0c0c60d21e12a5ac61fb2b786d4\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Happy-Go-Lucky - City Relocation News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=622","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Happy-Go-Lucky - City Relocation News","og_description":"The author reflects on his last visit with his father: \u201c \u2018Who are you? I want to ask the gentle gnome in front of me. \u2018And what have you done with Lou Sedaris?\u2019 \u201d","og_url":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=622","og_site_name":"City Relocation News","article_published_time":"2026-06-21T12:40:21+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"18 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=622#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=622"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3e7ce0c0c60d21e12a5ac61fb2b786d4"},"headline":"Happy-Go-Lucky","datePublished":"2026-06-21T12:40:21+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=622"},"wordCount":3637,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=622#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/cd96eaf1869c480e962d90b75cb144c9.webp","articleSection":["Personal History"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=622#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=622","url":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=622","name":"Happy-Go-Lucky - City Relocation News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=622#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=622#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/cd96eaf1869c480e962d90b75cb144c9.webp","datePublished":"2026-06-21T12:40:21+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3e7ce0c0c60d21e12a5ac61fb2b786d4"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=622#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=622"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=622#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/cd96eaf1869c480e962d90b75cb144c9.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/cd96eaf1869c480e962d90b75cb144c9.webp","width":1280,"height":720},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=622#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Happy-Go-Lucky"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/","name":"City Relocation News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3e7ce0c0c60d21e12a5ac61fb2b786d4","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com"],"url":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}