Lois and Eliot, all locked up at the studio of Jose Fuster in Cuba during their October 2013 art trip there.

Long before the Internet, November 22nd became a very important date in my life. Fifty years ago, my Sweet 16 was held on the same day President John Kennedy was shot and killed. What a bummer. Eighty folks, mostly my friends, showed up at the Regency Catering Hall in Jamaica, Queens to support me, even though everyone really wanted to stay glued to the TV tube. Remember when it was called that? Today it’s called a smart flat panel.

Coincidentally, 34 years ago on the same date, Eliot and I were married in my Aunt Esther and Uncle Ef’s condo, Rancho Mirage in Palm Springs. Sixteen people attended our wedding. My mother arranged the impromptu wedding that was decided on two weeks earlier. My father had died exactly a year before, and the anniversary of his death was going to be a very painful experience. Eliot was the one who came up with the idea to get married that day just to pick up the spirits of all family members who would elsewise fall into a funk. It worked. Two cases of champagne put everyone into another orbit.

As I look back to these times, I think it was the quiet period. No cells, no Internet, no Facebook, no video games, no Twitter, no YouTube, and no Google. Everyone communicated by a landline or actually put words on a piece of paper that was mailed to each other.

If we all knew then what we all know now, I wonder if we would have encouraged the digital revolution. It’s kind of nice to dial down the noise every once in a while.

Happy Anniversary, Eliot. I love you.