Dear Blog....It's been Awhile....Part 3

So, this is where the post should have been showing all my wonderful pictures from my May California trip. My daughter and I had SUCH plans for photos! She was moving back to Colorado and we didn't know when we would return to LA. I also had plans to do some family portraits while I was out there. With this in mind, I flew out all of my gear. Gear that I have worked hard and long to purchase over the lifetime of my business.

However, these portraits are not in LA, or even California, but taken only blocks from my studio in Parker for her 24th birthday in July. I only have iphone pictures to remember the trip because.... ALL of my gear, clothes, jewelry, shoes, toiletries, EVERYTHING except the clothes on my back, my phone and my purse, were stolen only hours after landing. From my locked rental car trunk! It was devastating.  And, still an ongoing, expensive, and time consuming fight with insurance agencies.

We made the best of the rest of the week and flew home before "bad news number two" knocked at the door (it always comes in threes, you know).  After arriving home, Brenda and I met to discuss the summer. We were both overwhelmed. She with her daughters wedding and me with the loss of my gear. After a long discussion we decided that she would no longer be a full time partner in the business, but instead move into a more part time role of assisting on selected shoots and some editing. Then......here comes "bad news number three".

MRI's. They are a part of life when you have a son that has a disease like NF2. With NF you live MRI to MRI, surgery to surgery, and just hope and pray that the news won't be bad knowing that eventually it will.  Early June was our eventually.

Ryan's baseball size brain tumor had grown significantly. His ear tumors somewhat significantly. After discussion with his oncologist, neurosurgeons at two hospitals,  and a lot of what I call the "ists"  doctors, it was decided that his tumor should be removed. Then, shortly after full healing from the brain surgery, he should go back on chemotherapy to preserve his hearing and shrink his ear tumors.

Brain surgery. Scary thought. Especially when we were told what could (or could not) happen in the aftermath of the surgery. My world collapsed.  I couldn't face a summer of working non-stop on a business without a business partner, or my gear, with an impending brain surgery on the horizon. It wouldn't be fair to my clients. They would definitely not get the best of me.

So, Tanja from Contemporary Expressions (yep, there she is again!) came to the rescue. We came to an agreement that she would take over all my existing senior appointments and I would be a second photographer for those clients that wanted me. We worked it out so that it would be mutually beneficial AND save me the guilt of not giving my son the time he needed, or not giving my customers the best of my abilities.

The summer flew by. Tanja did an outstanding job juggling her clients and my clients and we had a fabulous time working together on those seniors we photographed together. Our family decided to put off Ryan's brain surgery until the fall and give him the best summer ever.

Now this fall I once again find myself at a crossroads with a business that I love tremendously and have built for nine years but with NF still looming in our lives.  BUT, I have been offered a great opportunity to keep doing what I love on terms that will work for our crazy life.

HOWEVER......once again, you will have to wait......BIG ANNOUNCEMENT
COMING SOON! STAY TUNED!