Sweetness and Light

Sweetness and light. A phrase my Italian-American father used to derisively hurl at my Irish-American mother because he disdained her outlook on life. He was a realist, he said; she always wore rose-colored glasses, he said. She only saw beauty and good, even where there was none, he said.

A tourist is caught in a warp of sweetness and light. Everything is fresh and new. Familiarity has not bred contempt.