BONUS Screenshot
I saved this screenshot on this day last year.
Today especially, I feel like 13 year old me would look at what I did today and be in total awe that I am who she will grow up to be. And that’s because I got another tattoo today. It has been almost a month since I started my new job and yesterday I got my first paycheck. To celebrate, I booked an appointment with the artist who did the goldfish on my chest and the turtles on my calf.
From her wall of designs, I picked the one that was a frog wearing a mushroom hat riding a rhinoceros beetle like a horse. There is not a shred of meaning to the frog or the beetle or even the mushroom hat. I picked it because it’s whimsical and fun. She knocked it out of the park!
I asked her to include today’s date. April 25th. It’s an homage to the movie “Miss Congeniality” and this infamous scene:
I feel compelled to add that when I asked her if she understood the date reference, she thought it was because today is the 25th. Yes…it is…but also… it’s the perfect date! Y’all…this movie came out two years before she was born. She saw it one time when she was a little kid and that’s it. I suppose I can forgive her for that. Even if that is yet another reason I feel old as dirt sometimes. Her mother and I are almost the same age by the way. Her mom works as a piercer in the same studio as her daughter. She hung out and chatted with me last time when I was there getting the turtles done.
Honestly, despite the fact that my entire left arm is full of art that symbolizes a deep part of who I am and how I have healed and what I have been through over the years, this frog…that some have said looks like he’s stoned…is probably my favorite piece. I think the next logical step is to give him a name. It just feels right. And so does getting tattoos. When I was 13, I don’t think I had thought about ever getting a tattoo. When I was in my senior year of high school, I know I begged my mother like crazy to take me to get my tongue pierced. She wouldn’t. Though I did go on my 18th birthday. My first tattoo came not long after that. In my first year of college I think. But even if I wasn’t thinking about getting tattoos yet at 13, I still think I would have been totally in love with my future self if I could have seen what I would look like 30 years from then. I am now someone she would have looked up to. I love that for us.
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