One of the common misnomers about my personality is the assumption I'm a very open person. Perhaps this reasoning is plausible because I blog almost daily, but if we met in person, you'd realize I keep things inside. I was probably a locksmith in another life seeing how I hide things in my heart, under lock and key.

I'm the type of person who shares information once I've made it on the other side. I share when I've learned a lesson, found an answer, or have things worked out. But talking about hurt or pain in real time? Ummm, no.

I think that's why I've shied away from talking about my mom lately. We don't know what's going on, but we know something's not right. It's painfully obvious, but doctors are trying figure out what, exactly, it is. This pattern of being a medical enigma is familiar to my mom (she battled eye cancer, brain cancer, Bells palsy, and hydrocephalus in the span of six years), but it doesn't make this process easier.

Today at 10am PST my mom is going in for another MRI to scan her brain…and I'm writing today to remind myself: Life Is Beautiful. Regardless of the results, we trust not in statistics, probabilities, treatments, but we trust God is in control. As much as I want to worry, worry changes nothing.

A couple of weeks ago, I asked my mom if I could take her photo. Let's remember now, this moment, I said. I'm happy I documented her life…but in an unexpected twist, JD turned the camera on me and my parents as we sat and enjoyed the spring weather in Orange County.

Life Is Beautiful.