Meaningful and Personal: Photographing the Walk of Hope 2017 in Denver, CO

Today I had the honor or photographing the Walk of Hope 2017 - Denver, CO for the third year in a row. I look forward to this event every year and it's a great feeling when I can give of my time and talents in a way that is truly meaningful and close to my heart. Walk of Hope is put on by RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association.

For some of us, the journey to fulfill our dream of becoming a parent is a long, tedious and heartrending process. We are poked and prodded. We rearrange our lives around treatments and appointments and endless paper work. A trip to the local grocery store can cause panic - will we be surrounded by overwhelmed parents who have no idea that we would give a limb to be them; to hear a little person look up at us and call us “mommy?” We isolate ourselves from friends and family, because no one really understands how we can grieve so deeply for a tiny person that we’ve never met and don’t know if we will ever meet. We dread hearing about another birth announcement on facebook and we just can’t smile or laugh like we used to. Life has changed and we wonder if we will ever be the same person that we were before.

I know this feeling. I’ve been there. I’ve gone through it. About five years ago I faced my own battle with infertility. It was such a dark time in my life. In June of 2014 I became a mommy to the most wonderful little girl!

A therapist once told me, “I’ve never met a person who wanted to be a parent and didn’t ultimately end up being one. You may have to take a unique path to parenthood, but you if you really want to, someday you will be a parent.” I clung to those words. She was right. I hope you will stick with the fight to reach your little one, no matter how they come to you. Please, don’t give up - it is so worth the fight.