Everyone knows who Frank Sinatra was, well most everyone. His songs are in a lot of movies, such as Elf, and in just about every Christmas commercial.

If you’re a fan of the Yankees, baseball, or just from or live in New York, you probably know his song “New York, New York.”  Even without being a New Yorker, you probably know it or at least heard it.

But he means more to me than that. Besides his music being amazing and his voice being soulful, there is something else. My grandfather loved him. My dad has told me stories about how for Christmas all his dad wanted was a new needle for his record player so his Sinatra records would sound better. I never met my grandfather. He died when my dad was 27. My dad had me about 14 years later. But when I got a record player for Christmas last year one of the first records I asked for was a Frank Sinatra record. It feels like it almost connects us, my grandfather and me. Like in some way, it’sa way for me to know him.