Christian entered my life when I started dating his mother (who is now my wife). He was still in preschool back then.

I'd like to say that everything was smooth sailing from day one... but that would be cherry coating the truth. Mixing families isn't always seamless, and for Chris there was some element of scepticism about my role in his life early on. And that can be expected. By now I'd expect he feels me as much as a father as I see him as a son.

Over the years I watched Chris grow from a soft and friendly child to a capable and honest young man. He's made his mother and me proud with his grades in school. Now he's graduated and ready to face the world. I'm sure he'll do just fine. Above are some photos of him that I've snapped--which weren't always easy. I have a large collection of photos of glowing hands covering a wayward tuft of hair as Chris blocks my camera (he's never been fond of having his photo taken... but he wasn't completely successful in stopping my quest to capture moments of the kids' lives on film).