Why do I love being a photographer? With the click of the shutter, I can evoke an emotion, set a mood, or even tell a story with the pictures I take. I can show others how I see the world through my eyes, through my lens. Even when I am long gone, my pictures will remain, hopefully to continue to show others what I have seen, and what I hold dearest to my heart.

My Grandma Lola would have been 72 years old this January. This birthday, as most of you know, she will be celebrating with Jesus. My son, Isaiah, and Grandma Lola had a special bond and connection. Although he does not fully grasp what "death" means, and he doesn't understand why his beloved playmate isn't around to tickle him anymore ...I thought I should start a tradition, for both of us, to remember Lola.

Let me tell you a story ...with my words, with my photographs, with my heart ...

Grandma loved yellow roses. As long as I can remember, I've known she loved yellow roses. Now that she is gone, I'm grateful to have something tangible to remind me of her smile and appreciation for life. In this picture, Isaiah takes in the sweet smell of Grandma's yellow rose, and then he places the rose on her grave. He doesn't understand what a "grave" is, but when we pull in the drive to the cemetary, he remembers the last time we were there, and he asks in a small voice, "Mommy, are you going to cry?"

Next, we are off to the Fellowship Gardens, with a yellow balloon in tow ...

After Grandma passed away, I heard an interesting story on Dateline. The story was about a young boy, now six, whose great Grandma died when he was two and a half, the same age as Isaiah when Lola passed. Whenever the boy was sad and missed his Grandma, he and his Mom would buy a special balloon and load it up with kisses and then release the balloon. They'd watch it rise up to the sky, all the way to Heaven, so the boy believed, where his Grandma would be waiting with arms open. This touched my heart and I decided to make this our tradition too.

Off camera I tell Isaiah to kiss the balloon for Grandma so she can get it in Heaven, he does, but I decided to capture him laughing into the balloon instead. I did this because the laughter between Grandma and Isaiah is what I most fondly remember between them.

Isaiah gets ready to let go! He isn't too sure about letting go, after all, he loves to play with balloons. But, he remembers it is Grandma's birthday, and she will need a present.

He lets go! He yells, "Catch Grandma!" I'm sure she did.

Up, up, and away it goes!

The balloon goes to meet the Grandma that we love dearly and will never forget. She's left her imprint on our lives and our hearts. Always.

Below is an excerpt from a chapter in my book about my Grandma. This chapter is called "Heaven".

"One evening, all quiet and still, I was crying because I missed my Grandma. One of the hardest truths to accept about death is knowing that your loved one will miss out on the unwritten parts of our lives that are the future. Not only the key moments, but also the everyday happenings that are just as special. How I ache to have her hear my son’s infectious laugh one more time. How I long to walk through her kitchen door and take in the delicious aroma of the dinner she was preparing. What we wouldn’t give for one more time, one more moment. I’ve learned that death comes without warning, all we can do in our earthly defense is to live each day as if it were our last. To utter the words “I love you” or “I forgive you” to those we love while we still can, in turn gives us an edge over the unknown of death."