It's the first day of school.

Are you nervous?

Suburban Chicago, September 1964. Dad poses me next to that familiar plastic plant, but I still look stunned.

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Suburban Chicago, September 1964. My classmates gave me grief about that lunchbox. It was cute—a boy chasing a dog, a dog chasing a cat, and a cat chasing a mouse—but the cool kids had television-themed lunch boxes. There's the chandelier again.

Dad took this photo before I left for school. It's early in the morning: you can tell because the sun streams through the front door, shining on the wall near the piano. The house faced east, and the sun came in at that angle only for a short time during the day.