Dear Friends,                                                      Joy (lemon-scented or otherwise)

A long time ago I was walking down 85^th Street between Madison and Fifth on my way to the Met. Ahead of me a woman was walking with two little girls. The girls were whispering to each other and giggling, and finally one of them turned to the woman and said, in a dramatic, tv commercial voice: “Mommy … you’re my lemon-scented Joy!” and she and her friend went into gales of laughter and the mom along with them.

Joy was (maybe still is) a dish-washing liquid, and at the time the airwaves were flooded with ads that above all insisted on the fact that Joy was lemon-scented. The girls’ joke was much nicer and funnier, but very much along the same lines as the ads.

So why am I talking about this now, even more, why on earth would I remember something so trivial and so silly from so long ago? Because it was a simple and complete moment of joy (lemon-scented and all). The girls were so happy about their wonderful joke, and rightly so, and the mom was with them.

Love and solidarity,

            Bobby

For once, a nice post, for my dear friends S and W, October 12, 2025