Mary Gormley

There's Always Paris

My grandfather was an elusive character. He wore a blue beret that he bought one summer while on vacation in France. He loved that hat. Strange choice for a man who made a living as a steam fitter. Every once in a while, when I see those black and white photographs of men eating their lunches out of buckets, on steel beams 20 stories up, skyscrapers in the background, I wonder, what would those guys think about my Pop in that blue beret?