It’s hard to know how you will react in the midst of a crisis.  It’s hard to know what you will look back on and remember having learned from it.  It’s hard to know if you will ever be able to see the good in it.

On the morning of Wednesday, October 22nd, a man terrorized our city.  He killed an innocent man while he stood guard on our National War Memorial…he rampaged Parliament Hill…and he changed us.  We all stood back and watched as everything unfolded before our eyes.  On the news…on social media…in our neighborhoods.  It was a really hard day, filled with anxiety…fear…and by the end, relief.  The spectrum of emotions was far reaching.

One of the first texts that I received that morning was from Lisa.  My former bride…my friend…my confidante.  She asked if we were okay and together, we spent the day working our way through the hours that passed.  Our husbands were both in lock down…we both had a hundred questions…we both lived out the day in its presence and from a distance.

And in the midst of this crisis…I spent the majority of day messaging with this beautiful soul.  About nothing in particular and everything in general.  We kept tabs on our loved ones…we kept our eyes on the news…and we kept ourselves open to the immense amount of love being poured out to our city.

The next evening, I headed out to photograph her amazing family.  It had been scheduled long before any of this happened and in its own way, seemed almost predestined.  As though God knew that hugging and laughing and photographing these guys would be one of the best ways for me to feel normal again.

So we headed out with her three great loves and we embraced the day after.  We embraced the one thing that keeps us all bound together; family, friendship, love.

Then we sat on the beach and watched the most stunning of sunsets.  A sunset that seemed to whisper “I’m sorry for the rough day…but don’t forget that I’m still here…”

It’s hard to know the good that comes from a crisis.

But I came out of this one knowing a few things for sure…and one of them being that these guys, right here…are keepers for life!