This was Dad's favorite photo of me.

Suburban Chicago, June 1961. This photo hung for many years on the wall alongside my Dad's desk. I don't know why this shot had special meaning for him. Maybe it was the way his mother, Tatjana, had put an elastic band of silk flowers in my hair. That could have reminded him of bows in young girls' hair. Or perhaps it was because he took the photo when he and my Mom were nesting in a new home. They didn't have much money; that's why I am sitting in a lawn chair in the Rec Room. Or maybe it was the cotton jumper I wear, on which either Mom or Tatjana had embroidered red and green chickens. I think he may have liked the photo because I am not looking at the camera. I am instead daydreaming about the future.