Phil Lanoue Photography

My mother died Sunday morning November 29. She had been on hospice for a while but in recent weeks started a significant decline.

We had a celebration of her life service here in the Myrtle Beach, South Carolina area this past Thursday afternoon.

During the service I spoke a bit about some memories I had of mom going back to my childhood. She always had a love of nature and I can vividly remember her announcing the first Spring sighting of a robin in our backyard. She always delighted in the antics of the squawking blue jays, the scampering squirrels, and the bright crimson color of the cardinals.

As years went on and she came to live nearby us here in South Carolina, mom would continue to be amazed and interested in the various wildlife that could be seen when my wife Alyce and I took her on day trips to area gardens, nature preserves and parks. She saw dolphins splashing in the ocean, egrets and herons feeding and taking flight, and several alligator sightings as you may expect.

But something different and more remarkable started to occur as we were on one of our adventures. Mom started to point out scenes that in her words she thought “would make a nice picture.” Well it turned out that in virtually every case, she was right. What she had spotted would indeed make a very nice picture. She *saw* it. It has always been my view that those who could ‘see’ the scene before taking the picture would always come home with the most interesting photographs.

So it was during these times that something else began to occur to me. This was where I got it from! My love of nature and my interest in capturing some of those scenes had to come from mom. She started it all back when I was a child, and I never knew how that could even conceivably turn out later in my life.

So I want to give special thanks to my mom for passing along a valuable gift. One that I will always treasure and hopefully continue to be inspired to pursue.

This photo here of an a pure white egret ascending upward from it’s earthbound home to it’s equally comfortable home in the sky is a tribute to my mom’s new life up in heaven where I know she is enjoying the endless bounty of nature and all sorts of unimaginable wonders that were awaiting her.

My mother will be missed by many here on earth, but I will endeavor to honor and keep her memory alive by always keeping my eyes open for something that “would make a nice picture…”