09/05/2026
Every new season seems to bring a new version of missing my Mom.
And I already know these next two are going to be some of the hardest.
Fall was her absolute favourite.
Her birthday is coming. Thanksgiving will come. All of those little things that used to just feel like part of the season suddenly carry so much more weight now.
And then Christmas.
If you knew my Mom, you knew she LOVED Christmas. She went all out. The decorating, the traditions, the gifts, the magic of it all. She made Christmas feel like Christmas.
And not long after the holidays, it will somehow be one whole year since we lost her.
A year.
There are days I still can't wrap my head around that.
One thing grief has taught me more than anything is that we really do just assume there will be another day.
Another visit.
Another holiday.
Another family get-together.
Another photo.
Another “next time.”
So please, take the photos now.
They don't have to be professional. They don't have to be perfectly posed or taken in beautiful light. Use your cell phone. Take the blurry selfie. Hand your phone to someone else and ask them to take one. I'm not using this as marketing, take any photos you can!
And please, get in the photo too.
Don't always be the person behind the camera because you don't love how you look that day, you haven't done your hair, you want to lose weight first, or you think we'll get a better one next time.
The people who love you aren't going to care about any of those things when that photograph is all they have left.
I would give anything for another fall with my Mom. Another Christmas. Another ordinary day where I could pull out my camera and say, “Come here, let's get a selfie.”
We always assume there will be a next time.
Sometimes there isn't.
So take the photos. Be in the photos. Print them. Save them. Let yourself exist in your family's memories exactly as you are, right now. 🤎
And if having family photos taken in 2026 was something you told yourself you wanted to do this year, there's still time.
Don't wait for “next time.”
Do it now. 🤎