Our first posed photo together

These photos from 1966 are important in that they mark the start of a sea change in my parents’ attitude toward Bernie.

We had driven from Shreveport to Linden that morning to attend the wedding of one of my friends from high school.

While we were at home, Mama made this first-ever posed photo of us together and also a nice solo portrait of Bernie. We went into my folks’ living room for the “shoot.” Behind us are their prized curly-maple antique desk, one of their six 18th-century dining chairs, and two prints that they’d purchased years earlier in the lovely medieval town of Rothenberg, Germany.

Later on, we returned to Shreveport for dinner at a nice dress-up place, Ernest’s Orleans Restaurant and Cocktail Lounge.

I remember that day as vividly as if it were yesterday, not 58 years ago as I write this in 2024.

I’ve always gotten a kick out of this shot, where I’m looking at Mama and her camera, but Bernie is looking at me. And what an expression on his face!!! Is that the look of a young man in love???