The woman in the photo is my beautiful mom. No, I did not take this picture, but it is one of my favorites. I adore the smile painted across her face. The joy presented is just so youthful, free, and wild. This photo is precious to me now more than ever.


Why?


A year ago today our family lost my dear mom, Judy Susan Mason. Not only did we lose her, but the way she went also seemed so unfair.


She had a difficult summer in 2021. See, she was having an MS flare-up and her heart condition didn't make things any easier. For those of you with some kind of autoimmune disease, you understand that when your body goes into a slump, it is so hard to climb out of. Not only that but it puts just an awful unrelenting toll on one's body.


Well, in an already weakened state, my mom caught Covid; which all along was our family's biggest fear. She got sick but in the beginning, she seemed like she was going to be OK. She went in for some quick treatments but came home pretty fast. Everything was looking up and like everything was going to be okay...until it wasn't.


She went back into the hospital about a week after she was sent home the first time. Even though it seemed impossible for God to heal her I still held on to the hope that He wasn't done with her on this side of Eternity.


She was in there for a couple of days. At noon on a Monday, she seemed to be holding steady. The doctors and nurses seemed to be hopeful but still encouraged our family to come to be on the safe side. My brothers and sisters and I planned on flying out the next morning to hold her hand, pray over her, and encourage her. Well, that evening, probably not even six hours later my brother got a phone call from one of the nurses, "How far are you and your brothers and sisters? We had to intubate your mom, we do not think she will make it through the night." My brother relayed the news to the rest of us.


Knives to the stomach cut deep taking my breath away.


I wanted to be there. I wanted to hold her physical hand, stroke her hair, pray for her, and let her know that she was going to be OK and that Jesus had her in the palm of his hands.


I didn't get to do that.


None of us did.


Thankfully, my brothers and sisters and I were able to call and talk to my mom one last time. A sweet nurse held the phone to her ear so that we could all say our "see you later" and our "I love you" (thank God for those nurses!). Some may say that she wasn't coherent. But I know she was. My brother, Travis, was the last one to speak to my mom. Fifteen minutes after he hung up the phone, my mom coded the first time (one day I will share the whole story. God is so faithful even in the midst of pain and suffering).


I got a phone call from my brother Travis at 1:30 AM giving me the devastating news that our mom was no longer with us on the earth.


Our world was shaken.


I am still healing and grieving over the loss of my mom. My whole family is but pictures like the one of her riding her horse, one of her favorite things to do, which makes my heart smile and takes the pain away just a little bit.


I say all that to say, this is one of the main reasons I decided to start a photography business. After losing my mom and combing through all of the photos I have of her, not only do I so cherish the ones I do have of her, but I also realized how sad I am that I do not have a lot of photos WITH her.


Maybe as moms, we don't want to be in the pictures because we don't like the way we look that day, or maybe it is just the simple fact that we are the ones always taking the pictures. Regardless of why I want to help as many families as I can to press pause and capture their favorite moments together. Those memories are so important to capture!


Friends, if I can encourage you in any way it's this...


Press pause. Make memories. Be in the picture.


~Tiffany