Can someone "spoiler" me the River Song timeline?

[mjr]

My wife and I were talking about this, and we're confused about River's timeline.

See below:

Ok, So I know that River is the daughter of Amy and Rory. My wife assumed that because of when/how the Doctor and River interact, that River is traveling "backward" in time. I don't think that's the case, but it's more like their time "streams" are going in different directions (like cars driving opposite directions down the street, for lack of a better way to put it). Though the Doctor's is more like a big ball of yarn than a straight line, if that makes sense. At least to me.

But River's "first" encounter with the Doctor is his "last" encounter with her. At least that's how I understand it. So how does that work? What's the River Song timeline?

Help?

[csquared]

You hit the nail on the head. They are both time travelers, and it is shear coincidence that their timelines intersect the way the do (or so the writers want you to believe).

And as River says, 'No spoilers."