This photograph was taken in early 1969.
It is the only picture that exists of me under one year old.

It came from a family portrait session. I was an infant, not yet walking, still new to the world. According to my mother, money was so tight during my first year of life that there were no other photographs taken of me. The next image I have seen of myself, I am already well over a year old. After that, there are only a handful of photos scattered across my childhood.

This picture is not important because it is rare.
It is important because it is all that remains of my beginning.