Leaving home

These days I'm spending more time packing than photographing. I'll be moving away from Columbia in a week, after 13 years of living here. Reluctant at first about life here in the Midwest, I've grown to appreciate so many things, and can only hope that the world I'm headed toward will embrace me as generously as Columbia has.

I keep thinking of 12-year-old Kristina, who I photographed a year and a half ago while she was making the transition from living on a farm at a foster home to heading back to live with her guardian in the city. I know that she was looking forward to what was ahead, but was also terribly sad to leave behind the horses and foster family she'd come to love.