Although I had never met him, I knew that my grandfather had been five feet, six inches tall, while my stately grandmother stood five feet, eleven inches. As a teen-ager leafing through old photographs with Grandma, I finally realized how unusual they must have looked together.

"Grandma, " I asked, "how could you have fallen in love with a man five inches shorter than you?"

She turned to me. "Honey," she said, "we fell in love sitting down, and when I stood up, it was too late."