Sunday, May 17, 2026

Like a Storybook Story

Posted 6:00 AM by Gerald So

Riding with my friends Deshant Paúl and Tracy Boni, last night we attended a surprise movie birthday party for our friend John Ricotta, a screening of THE PRINCESS BRIDE at South Bay Cinemas in West Babylon.

A photo of four people, birthday decorations in the background
L to R: Deshant, me, Anando and Kian Paúl, John
Photo by Tracy Boni


As ever, I'm lucky to have known Deshant and John since we helped start a magazine at Hofstra more than thirty years ago.

John's first daughter Emma graduated college last week. His second daughter Julie sang the national anthem at Yankee Stadium last month. Meanwhile Deshant and Tracy's kids Anando and Kian are much sharper than I was at their age.

Another highlight was catching up with John's mother and uncle, who've been as welcoming to me as he has. Keeping to the 80s movie theme, my present to John was a copy of FUTURE BOY, Michael J. Fox's memoir of filming the first BACK TO THE FUTURE and the third season of FAMILY TIES.

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