Photography

February 21
In the late night I am looking at photographs of Colby the day before her first brain surgery: she is just out of the car after a five hour drive, she is ecstatic to run. She is running back and forth on the sidewalk, her long curls are bouncing. She is bathed in gold, evening light, she is smiling so broadly that the dimple in her cheek casts a shadow.

Today, this whole week, she is bound, literally, to her hospital bed. Long wires extend from the surface of her brain, through her scalp and into a machine that records her brain waves.

The photographs of Colby running serve as a portal back to that sunny sidewalk. Pictures help me remember those feelings again, the way a stone in your pocket from your favorite beach brings the ocean to you. These photos of an afternoon of simple, physical happiness help me believe, to feel, to know that we will get from here to there. Looking through these photos brings hope, encourages faith that we will again have ideal, golden, running afternoons.