The plan was to celebrate Adina's birthday and also the one-year anniversary of the loss of their father. We did that, but in addition, the girls had another plan in mind. They had decided to get matching tattoos.
While I am not thrilled about the prospect of injecting ink permanently into their skin, they are adults and they are in charge of their own bodies. Their choice.
They had long discussions about what they wanted to get. Their final decision was to have Adina draw a garlic bulb in honor of their father because he was such a wonderful cook and taught both of them the love of cooking. They also liked the idea of the healing and protective properties of garlic.
When they asked me if I wanted to come along for the ride, I said yes, but I wanted to take photos. Adina made sure that it was okay with the tattoo artist. He was fine with it!
I really was impressed with the cleanliness of the place as well as all of the preparation prior to each tattoo. In addition, I was fascinated with the actual process of the needle and the ink and the way the artist took Adina's artwork and manipulated it on his iPad until the girls were satisfied with the final artwork.
Even after he placed the stencil of the tattoo on their skin, both of my daughter/s guided the artist on which lines they wanted to have more emphasis.
So, here are my images. An homage to the art of tattoo.
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I am glad that I took a moment to stop and watch this creature. You never know when you will find a bit of nature and beauty.
The site was stunningly beautiful. I know I made a noise when I saw the sky and I hoped no one heard me.
Mornings like this when I am lucky to catch a brilliant sunrise gives me so much inspiration. I live for the moments and the little things in life that make me happy. Life is for living and enjoying.
Not only was I able to capture this incredible sunrise that looks to me to be a watercolor painting, but I also surprised my friend as she was calmly doing her yoga on her patio to this lovely sunrise.
Then, I ran back to my car, promptly forgot that I made this image and went to work.
Now that I have a luxuriously long weekend to catch up on errands and blogging, I took another look at this image and was so satisfied that I really didn’t edit it at all.
But I made it through. It felt like the longest day ever. And now it is over.
But I made time to make this image before I got into the car (and forgot to take my lunch! But I came back for it.).
It has been 17 days since my father has crossed over to be with my mom, and there isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about him. It was a complicated relationship that started when I was about 5 when my mom was raising me as a single, widowed mom. There were days that I disagreed with him, but, he adopted me, and he was my dad. And, this loss does affect me.
This has been a difficult year. But somehow, I have gotten through it with the assistance and support of my daughters, my friends, and other family members. The support net is wide. But the struggle is a daily one that only the person going through the grief can fully understand. It is definitely a process and it is one that is completely individual with its own timeline.
So today, as I was walking my two-mile trek around the community, I listened to a podcast, texted my friend Greg (who is away for another two weeks and is my walking buddy), and made these photos.
As I said yesterday, nature is the best medicine. I can't say that enough. And, as my dad would tell me daily, One Day at a Time!
