What I do know is that in November 2006 I got my first tattoo. I’d been thinking for several years that I wanted a tattoo, but wasn’t sure what I wanted. So being the highly intelligent being that I am *snort*, I waltzed into Fantasy Ink Tattooz just over the border in NC near Myrtle Beach, SC and started looking at the designs on the walls. Yeah. That’s soooo the best way to pick a tatt, right? LOL But my eyes honed in on a picture of a dragonfly. I didn’t like the colors on the picture, but since I could pick and choose my own, that’s just what I did.
Sam, the tattoo artist, was great. I think he was slightly surprised by how willing I was to just whip off my shirt so he could have access to my shoulder – had I even realized that morning that I’d be betting tattooed that night, I would have come prepared with a tank top. But let’s be honest here; my flabby abs were not going to excite this man and I can’t imagine I have the worst body he’s ever seen either. So he’s pulling the curtain around the area where I’m going to sit and saying, “Are you concerned about people seeing you…” and I’m just whipping off my sweatshirt as if I don’t have a care in the world. Go figure. So not like me.
Moving on…
Sam was great and did an awesome job with the tattoo in my opinion. I’ve gotten many compliments on it over the years and keep meaning to find more outfits that allow me to show off my shoulders and therefore flash the tatt at people. I mean, if I have on the right shirt I will totally let people pull the neck down and check out my shoulder as it is; I might as well make it easier!
The person I did not want to show the tattoo to was my father. I think I made it a week before I finally caved in and told him about them. Yeah, I said “them” because the day after the dragonfly I decided it was a good idea to get a 2nd tattoo when we went back with some friends. But that’s a story for another time. When I did show my father, he had to admit that it was a pretty tattoo and then he busted out laughing. Finally he said, “You know, the last few years your mother was alive, she really started to like and collect some things with dragonflies on them. So now you have your mother on your back for the rest of your life!” Cue more laughter from my highly amused father.
So yes, I have Sandra on my back for the rest of my life I suppose. That’s ok that because I really loved my mother and I have come to really love dragonflies in the past few years. They are so beautiful and fragile when you look at their wings. I sat by a friend’s pool a couple of months ago just gazing at the gorgeous iridescent blue on the body of a dragonfly that sat perched and still for what seemed like hours. As if it wanted me to look at it and appreciate its beauty. Which I most definitely did.
But I think of dragonflies in another way too. I am going to totally get the following story wrong I am sure because I’m not completely sure if I’m trying to mash up 2 different stories I have heard, so bear with me.
A few years ago I heard a story at church of a fellow parishioner who was at the bedside of her mother as she was dying from cancer. They were praying for her mother and while they were, a cardinal perched on the windowsill of the room where her mother was and sat there for several hours until the mother passed away. From then on whenever she saw a cardinal, she thought, “I love you too Lord”. The bird had come to symbolize more than just a pretty red bird.
I adopted that in my own way to remind myself that God loves me and I love Him and to say it more often. So whenever I see a dragonfly flitting about (or a butterfly as well) I pause and say “I love you too Lord”. It’s a nice focal point for me sometimes to re-center myself and get my day and my thoughts back on track.I’m not sure God was really super keen on me sitting half naked in a tattoo parlor, but that’s really between me and him. Well, ok. Between me and God and Sam. And Nancy Lee and Lorene too I guess since they were there. ANYWAY… I don’t and won’t get into debates with people about whether it’s wrong to have tattoos. I have 3 and I like each one of them. They have a meaning to me.
So I’m just the girl with the dragonfly tattoo. Maybe it has deeper meaning. Maybe it doesn’t. But I think it’s a pretty freakin’ awesome tattoo!
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