Joey and Tanya with Jackie at a chinese restaurant in early June, 1996. Joey has dyed his hair so he looks as though he should be my younger rather than my older brother.

      I had heard Joey speak of Tanya, I had seen photos of her, I had even spoken with her on the phone. But I didn't get to meet her till 1999 -- just a few minutes before I took this photo.
      This was the first time Joey had gotten to meet Lois, too. She'd had flown east a week and a half earlier to meet me and do a little sightseeing with me when I was in the east to say farewell to my sister Julie.
      Both of these women -- Tanya on the left, Lois on the right -- make me think about what Ronald Reagan said about his beloved Nancy: that being in her presence was like walking into a warm room. They are both warm, lovely, loving ladies.

      It was a hot day in Baldwin -- record-breaking temps all over the New York area -- and in the evening we all went over to Jones Beach. Joey and Tanya, Joel, Tommy, and Lois and I.
      It was the first time I'd been to Jones Beach since we were little boys. Joey remembered our having gone there with our father one time. He'd been fascinated by seeing in the bath house two old men in their thirties who said they were brothers. Joel had told him, "Maybe when you and Tommy are in your thirties you'll still be pals like them -- still doing things together."