Number 6 on the list was "because you always take life and squeeze every drop out of it you can". Five years later cancer squeezed every last drop out of my mother's life. Even with two small children who were full of life, there was a void that could not be replaced. Number 6 on my mother's list started to become less and less of an accurate statement about me. I looked at them differently than I
had ever before. Instead of seeing the posed pictures, the beaches and buildings she visited on vacation, a graduation, her standing in front of a car, I began to see a story; the smiles, the hand holding, the laughter, the raw emotion. I could see into her soul. The moments in these pictures were all I had left to treasure of her life. I remember buying my first digital camera. I took pictures of everything and everyone. I could not put the camera down in fear I would miss a moment. Behind the camera is exciting for me and it quickly became a passion. I began to hear my mother reading her list at my wedding. Those words were true once again. Let me capture you as you squeeze every drop out of your life. I would be grateful to give this gift to you for your wedding, a birthday, a birth, a beautiful baby, an anniversary, an engagement... The list is endless.
