It starts with the time before me. The page is labeled: "1949? Maybe Central Park"

A picture of a smiling young woman, left profile, seated on a park bench by a concrete pond. Next to it is a photo of a young man in shirtsleeves, cigarette dangling, confronting the camera head-on and squinting, sitting on the same park bench. The poses are identical, except the young woman looks away from the camera and the young man takes it on.

They are my parents. If it is 1949, my mother is 26 and my father is 23. The poses say a lot about them-- both relaxed and confident, but my mother wore her confidence like a pair of comfortable shoes, while my father demanded head on that you acknowledge his.