February 2007

Sometimes “things” just drop in your lap. By this I mean the kinds of things that are part of a greater plan, a gentle re- minder if you will that perhaps God sees an opportunity to check in and he always takes it. Do we? The question is do we see that is what’s happening and a better question still...do we make the right decisions? These sorts of things have happened to me my whole life, and now as a mother and an artist, author, philanthropist...I see these opportunities that God gets to remind me of the “bigger picture” and have gotten familiar with how to recognize them. Sometimes they are funny, sometimes they come with great sadness and are hard at first to recognize as a “checking in”. The end results are always the same though; challenging me and my soul to either leap and grow or shy away and demand to “think about it first”! Ay, to be human...I think the heavens must be entertained by just watching all of us.
My latest check in came in the form of Meagan. My clients always ask me to photograph their friends and family. Like my Uncle Jim’s studio, I have made it my life’s work to care and to keep client’s for life and whatever they ask of me as an artist
is usually met with a yes! So I was asked to photograph Meagan at my annual holiday bash and in passing I said yes. A few weeks went by and I had nearly forgotten the promise for Meagan. Bonnie called me at the studio and asked if I would shoot her and then came “the rest of the story”. She is 6 years old, Ok no big deal... I shoot kids all the time so this will be easy...” has incur- able cancer” Bonnie said. (Long pause)..she had been asked for what she “wished for”... she is stage 3!!! Double whammy...she wanted pictures with me; of her and her mother, so there would be pictures when she isn’t here anymore. Wow. My heart dropped and I stumbled through scribbling the details of contact info and things she liked.
My mind was racing with what I could do and what my heart wanted me to do. This checking in was very unexpected. Many of you are aware of my Hope and Inspiration breast cancer calendar. For those of you who don’t; I have a friend that was diagnosed with breast cancer and I asked her if I could shoot her before chemo and make sure I had a file of “stuff” for her daughter. Years later the calendar was born and it has received both local and statewide recognition. This year I am pushing out into other states and it will be a national effort to research and we hope find a cure for breast cancer. These calendars are of surviving mothers with their children. My calendar is about survival and stamina and not...let me say again NOT children with cancer. This bothered me, it festered and made my soul sore and tired. I knew what I had to do and I immediately called my friend at Sugar Britches. She without hesitation gave me clothes that Meagan could keep as her gift and then I called my friends at Channel 11. Within two hours I had a t.v. camera and a wardrobe!
Meagan is not a child you would look at and immediately know she has terminal cancer. She has a head full of long blonde hair and a sassy positive and very much little girl attitude. She somehow gave me the strength to do a wonderful shoot and not cry at all. I never really thought about that aspect while I was shooting because I was doing what I always do and working with her...not thinking about “that”. We have become friends. She and her family are now part of the Alisa Murray family. But as an artist making my way through life touching lives I realized she didn’t just touch us. I have been given the opportunity to tap into other talents, such as writing, that afford me the platform; if you will, to illustrate through, not only pictures, but also words how wonderful and vivacious Meagan is. God has been working through me to help her feel ready when her time comes that she has left her stuff behind. I am a creator of that “stuff”. I realized that there is a greater plan for me as an artist and part of that
“thing” dropping in my lap was this column! I invite you to live consciously in the moment so that when
something drops in your lap you’ll be ready to recognize it as a “checking in”. The underlying subplots of all of our lives are filled, whether we realize it or not, with opportunities to stretch and grow into the souls that must be fulfilled.
Take care of You!