Unexpected gifts

My grandparents always took a walk every evening after dinner.

It was their habit, something their doctors had told them was a good idea for exercise, for flexibility and staying mobile. Every evening, when dinner was over, they would go for a walk of maybe 20 minutes around the neighborhoods near their home in Merced, California. And when we were there visiting them, we would go on walks with them.

My grandfather was an Episcopal priest who retired when I was still in grade school, and my grandmother was a violinist. They lived in California and we lived in Massachusetts…