2015's Final Custom Piece

My final custom piece of the season was truly special. I have had the components for a while now, a little longer than I care to admit, but I knew I had to be ready to create this piece. 

I was entrusted with several pieces of jewelry from my lovely friend Debbie, who had lost her sister to cancer this past year.  It has not been an easy year for her and we have had a few conversations regarding loss and grief and pain.  Among the items she gave me was a shell casing from her sister's 21 gun salute.  The day she gave it to me to create something, I realized the importance of what I can do through my work.  There was something about the shell casing that just overwhelmingly struck me.  It was such a tangible piece of grief. Of finality. Of honor.  And she had given it to me, to do something with.

This week I asked my husband to practice a few times crushing a casing in his vice, because I only had one shot at this piece and I wanted it to be right. He was so helpful and after a couple attempts I handed him the casing with apprehension, but faith.  It came out great. Just wide and flat enough for me to stamp upon.  I combined the casing with opal pieces, gold nuggets, a pendant and even a gold ring that had all been Bonnie's.  I have to be honest... though I hadnever met the woman, I asked her to guide me to create this piece for Debbie.  I felt her.  I knew what words to use and the design flowed quickly and easily.  I hope I did her proud, and Debbie will feel her when she wears her memorial piece.

Merry Christmas Debbie. XOXOXO

The Leap

Twelve years ago, I watched the most magical transcendent thing. No, it was not a birth, but a death.  I had seen a lot of dying and death moments by my 29th year. In working in the ICU, it was just a part of the job. Sometimes welcome, sometimes cursed.  But I had witnessed it enough times to know what it looked like as it approached. When not speaking of a traumatic death, a gradual death followed a known path the same as labor follows a known one.

She didn't follow rules much though.  She hadn't made any urine for many days.  Her pulse had been strong and steady in the 130 range for probably 5 days.  This assured me I at least have strong cardiac genes.  She had not moved, not closed her mouth, not responded in a couple days.  Her blood pressure remained low, but that was actually pretty normal for her petite frame and hadn't changed in several days.  When she was still been coherent she had told me who had been with her in her bedroom.  Her parents, who had been gone for years, had already come for her.  Physiologically it made little sense why she had not passed. Emotionally and spiritually it made perfect sense.

My brother had not yet been able to get to her because of unforeseen work obligations.  He assured us he was going to be OK if he didn't make it before she passed.  But she was a Mother. She knew better than that. She knew he wouldn't have been OK. Besides, there was his month old grandbaby that she had not yet met. My Husband had flight delay and travel issues coming back from Saba and since she probably liked him better than me most times, she was definitely waiting for him.

They both arrived within an hour of each other on the 14th of December and got their time with her. She was unconscious and not moving anything but they laid her 10th grandchild in her arm.. It was around noon.  Around 2pm I took her blood pressure and it had fallen for the first time days.  I knew she was preparing to go now.  My Father, my oldest brother and I were with her through the night. Eventually her breaths became irregular and more shallow.

At 9:00 am she took her last breath... and it was unlike any last breath I had ever seen. In that moment I know my Mom went somewhere. In that breath, she curled her fists, closed her mouth, squeezed her eyes and took a little gasp as if she jumped into an unknown. Or maybe got pulled by her mother. (Get over here!) Christians would call it heaven, some may call it the other side.  There was no look of fear, but anticipation. And then she was gone.  And it was beautiful.  And reassuring.  Because in that last earthly action, she did not cease to be. She just went somewhere else. 

And so while grief follows no path, contrary to what some flow charts may try to tell you, I hold that memory clear in my cluttered chaotic mind.  It assures me she is around, because only her body died in that moment.  Her energy, her spirit... Those I witnessed leap into the next adventure.

Hers, His and Theirs

Recently I had the privilege of shooting family photos of a beautiful blended family!  I have known Kristin for quite a while now, and it is hard to believe how much her and Chad's children have grown!  They are blessed with 3 beautiful young ladies and one comical on-the-go little boy!  In this shoot, I think I captured one of my all time favorite photos, because it summed up "parenting" in general.  I was snapping a shot of the loving couple, embraced... and scurrying up the hillside behind is the youngest, doing his own thing.  It pretty much epitomizes parenting, and how nothing really seems to go the way you plan it, but in the end, you often times end up with with pretty great memories anyway!

The Shining Light of Tamie!

I do not really believe in coincidences.  I believe that those moments we call coincidences are actually divine moments.  I have been lead to that moment, to experience an "ah ha!" that God wants me to experience.  One of my last shoots was one of those times.

I have known of/about Tamie since we moved to our community a little over 6 years ago.  The reality is everyone pretty much knows everyone, right? :) Recently she has embarked on a new adventure with her businessEnergetics Wellness, where she performs Life Coaching, Reiki and Therapeutic Touch.  Oh, this is in addition to a full time Nursing career!  During our shoot we talked about how we both came around to things that had always been part of us.  She eventually came back to her passion of holistic and alternative health, and I came back to my passion for photography.  For us both, it was just out there waiting for us to come back.

In our conversations, Tamie said some things that I have been needing to hear for a while.  Some things that she would have never known I had needed to hear, but she was drawn to speak.  And for that, her, I couldn't be more grateful!

Tamie, thank you for letting me capture your beauty that shines brightly! Your pictures show a woman who is living the life she loves, and loves the life she lives!