When your life is overcome with immeasurable grief, you can’t imagine a time when you will ever feel joy again. You certainly don’t anticipate the day when you will once again appreciate anything beautiful in the world.

In the days immediately following my sister’s murder, every breath I took was a struggle. As I moved through my life, it felt as if I was walking through sludge with an anvil around my neck weighing my body down, willing me to give up. I was living each day just to survive. There was no joy, just sadness and ache, and a deep desire for the sun to set every day. The carefree days I once had with my daughters and husband had vanished with my sister.

This series is about waking up and learning to breathe again. Remembering how to see beauty, and relearning how to live. I woke up. I took my family on vacations and we learned to laugh again, and in the process I shot my way back to happiness.