My cousin's grandmother was a "Lady" in England. As in royalty. Not the grandmother that we shared, but his other grandmother, on his mother's side. In my young mind she belonged to that magical royal realm of princes and princesses that I associated more with fairy tales than with financial gluttony and scandal. I used to wonder if the fact that she was his grandmother somehow made me royalty. It didn't. It didn't make my cousin royalty either.

My cousin and I shared a grandfather, though, who was a renowned stage and screen actor. His name was Bert Lahr, and he played the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz. U.S. royalty in the form of a movie star. The King of the Forest. Does it say anything about me?

I never met my grandfather. I know him through the lenses of film and still cameras. He died before I was born, while working on a movie, The Night They Raided Minsky's. The one time I watched it I felt closer to him than while watching The Wizard of Oz. He was without all the Oz-ian make-up and closer to the age he would have been had he lived 'til my birth. He played a human being. Not a larger than life fuzzy forest inhabitant. I loved the lion. I loved his exuberance and spontanaiety, and goof. But I also wanted a grandfather.

There was a photograph of my grandfather taken by Richard Avedon that hung in the living room of my parents' house in Amagansett. Then later it was given to me. When I was little I used to stage performances without audiences in the living room, and end up laying in the big, upholstered, orange chair, facing up to the black and white photograph and crying for the soft, creative, humourus caretaker I never had. His eyes squinted, his hands clasped, his head tilted towards the heavens. He was in character as his role from a stage production of Waiting for Godot. I wailed to him and he turned to the sky.

I can't remember a time when I wasn't aware that "The Lion" was my grandfather. And I can't remember a time when others were naive to this fact, too. So I can't really make the distinction between what my life is like, and what it would have been like had I not been born the granddaughter of cowardly royalty. I can assess, though, certain moments and experiences that likely would not have come my way without having been born to such a lucky hand.

Because my grandfather played the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz, I have a home that I own. I'm not rich, and it's a little place, but it's my home and it's cozy and beautiful and I'm happy here. Because my grandfather played the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz, the shy person I was growing up, and that is still buried somewhere, had a stepping stone to somehow connecting with people when striking up a normal conversation seemed daunting. And I felt empowered. Because my grandfather played the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz, I get to see him everywhere I go; on book covers, and on TV, on mugs, and on lunch boxes. Because my grandfather played the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz, I feel like he's always around. Because my grandfather played the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz, I always believed that I could do anything I wanted to creatively, and succeed. Because my grandfather played the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz, I refrain from using my middle name, Lahr, as an author. Because my grandfather played the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz, celebrities will sometimes treat me with more respect than people who they deem "regular people." Because my grandfather played the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz, strangers used to call my mother's apartment when I was growing up just to talk to us. Because my grandfather played the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz, I think sometimes people expect me to know more about him than I do. Because my grandfather played the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz I have a book about him that my uncle wrote, displayed on my bookshelf, but I still haven't read it. Because my grandfather played the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz, for a moment I thought that the only way that I could claim my own identity as a creative was to write books for children. But that's not why I write them now. Because my grandfather played the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz, a young man that I really liked brought someone over to my apartment telling me that he wanted his friend to meet me, and then later told me that he just wanted to show him the apartment of the granddaugher of the Cowardly Lion. Because my grandfather played the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz, I got to go to the Munchkin Convention in Syracuse, NY this year and met a cute reporter who was covering it. Because my grandfather played the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz, I was brave enough to tell him I thought he was cute. Because my grandfather played the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz, he interviewed me and met me in my hotel later for drinks. And, probably because my grandfather played the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz, I never heard from him again. Because my grandfather played the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz, I have lived a priviledged life and am a very lucky girl, surrounded by many beautiful things, and I always try to remember that, and be grateful. And I know that it doesn't really say anything about me, just because my grandfather played the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz.