ann beck photography

Today we say goodbye to an extraordinary woman.

I first met Sheri three years ago, when I was contacted by her friends to do a storybook session for Sheri and her family before she began chemo for breast cancer. Within an hour, I was hooked. Our day together was so fun, playful… her little girl just a ball of energy and the absolute apple of her mommy’s eye.

Over the next three years, I was lucky enough to photograph their family three more times, each time in awe of her strength as she rattled off doctor reports and tumor updates as if they were sports scores, all the while never losing her spark for life, especially with her husband and daughter.

My biggest fear with each session was not that the pictures would show how sick she was, but just that I wouldn’t be able to fully capture how alive she was.. more than anyone I’ve ever met I think… nothing phased her, nothing stressed her, her smile was an incandescent bulb that would never run out.

As that light radiated, her family responded tenfold. They were the fireflies at her light, fluttering eagerly about, wanting to please, to participate, happy just to be in her presences. As was I. When I am struggling to get out of bed in the morning I remember that last year she completed the 3-day Breast Cancer walk just days after chemo. When my kids are on my last nerve I remember how she so graciously let her little one be herself, whatever that meant at the time.

It was her inspiring story that led me to create the Mother’s Story program offering complimentary sessions for moms battling cancer, and she has never been far from my thoughts.

Earlier this week, Sheri lost her long and courageous battle with breast cancer. Her friends & family will gather today wearing pink in honor of her favorite cause, the one she worked tirelessly for despite her own weakening strength. They will remember the woman who will be hard to forget, say goodbye to a dear friend to many.

The only request Sheri had when we did the first storybook was to include this poem, which she had found in a book and carefully hand copied for me. Three years ago it was a pretty prayer. Today it is goodbye.

I said a prayer for you today

And know God must have heard-

I felt the answer in my heart

Although He spoke no word

I didn’t ask for wealth or fame.

I knew you wouldn’t mind,

I asked Him to send treasures

Of a far more lasting kind.

I asked that He’d be near you

At the start of each new day

To grant you health and blessings

And friends to share your way.

I asked for happiness for you

In all things great and small,

But it was for His loving care

That I prayed most of all.

Thank you, Sheri, for allowing me a glimpse in your life, a moment in your light. May you find some peace at last.