SCENES FROM EARLY MORN DRIVE (OR HOW I GOT HERE)

In December 1979 my then husband took a job with a company that moved us from family and friends to Plano, Texas. We moved into a brand new four-bedroom house on Early Morn Drive in a neighborhood called ‘Shadow Run.’ Our house was one of two hundred and fifty that all looked alike. The neighborhood, like many in the Dallas area, was carved from cotton fields on the flattest land I had ever seen. “Flat, flat, flat’ echoed in my head like a mantra. Coming from Seattle with its mountains, rivers, trees, and hills, I was accustomed to looking up to find a familiar landmark. Here, there weren’t even any trees. When I looked up, all I saw was sun. Meanwhile, my children were becoming part of this place. They had found ‘home’ on this southern blackland prairie; a home I was still seeking. I got out my camera and started making pictures. As my children have grown, so has my need to photograph them here. It is the ‘down time’ that interests me most: the time between events; the time when nothing seems to be happening;, the time that comprises most of our lives.