Bald is STUNNING

Over the past year, you've all gotten to know many of the people that are truly important in my life. Each day I realize how blessed I am to be surrounded by such joy, honesty, and absolute and unequivocal love. My bestie, Beka is no different.



With this week's photo assignment by Ms. Ree, I asked Beka if I could invade her personal bubble and snap some photos to contribute. The subject matter we were meant to convey was "beauty" and she was my absolute first choice.



Contributions to Ms. Ree's photo assignments have primarily been landscapes and nature, for the simple reason that I don't have to give direction and I can immerse myself in the quiet and figure out what I am looking for without a rush or missing perfection in a frame. But shooting someone else made me want to venture out of my comfort zone and catch within that frame the nature of Beka, her hilarity, her beauty, strength and essence.



For most of you, I may not have filled you entirely in on Ms. Beka.



We met our freshman year of college at WSU, had almost all of our classes together, shared a dorm, and made tons memories and developed a system of communication that only best friends can have, where others just look at you cockeyed and roll their eyes, because no matter how hard they try they will never "get it". Fine by us, it's probably better that way.



In between all of those other moments of being doubled over in laughter and our Vulcan mind meld sense of communication, I pinpointed the exact moment that she became my best friend.... it was the day that I shaved her head. Yup, bald.



Beka has an auto-immune disorder called alopecia, which causes her to periodically lose her hair. Frequently being confused with a cancer patient is not out of the ordinary. And unlike anyone else I know or could imagine, she handles the cards she was dealt with poise, comedy, and utter grace. Stunning with hair, and completely gorgeous without.



I just wanted to share with you the pictures that completely captured Beka's essence and give you a peek into why I completely heart my bestie!