Blogging 365, Day 61: Inked

Uncle Lou would have wanted for us to continue with our daily lives without his passing being a hindrance and naturally, being a writer, he would have expected nothing less from me but to pick up and keep moving.

Then it shall be so.

Today, Ann and I dropped Anthony off at the grandparents’ house so that we could spend the day with some much-needed time together. And if the time of this post is any indication, we did indeed do just that.

We spent about half of the day at the Citadel Outlets doing some shopping for ourselves, and for the first part of the day we did something Ann thought I’d never do: get a tattoo.

I say “never” because I honestly thought I’d never get one. That’s about as simple as it gets. But just as I did when I decided to grow a goatee and get my ears pierced, I felt like doing something more as I grew older and being nothing but the goodie-goodie all of my life.

And when it came to the tattoo, I had a few strict rules:

• It had to be designed by me
• It had to have meaning

After thinking long and hard about those two rules, I came up with my initial design – months ago, by the way – which ended up being the one used by artist Wade Hex of Port City Tattoo.

I showed it to Wade and he thought it was a fine design. He worked his magic by sketching it again and copying it to a Xerox-type of temporary ink to apply to my arm and serve as the template. And from there, he went to work.

About one hour later, it was all done. Note, however, that the picture was taken a few hours after we got home and I unwrapped it from its covering.

A simple, classic design dedicated to a simple man. Wade suggested the shading rather than solid for “DAD” and I think it turned out better. Here’s what it all means.

• The 7 stars represent the years Dad and I had together
• The 5 stripes represent the month in which he died (May)
• The combined total of 12 stars and stripes represent the month he was born (December)
• The overall design is dedicated to his service in the US Army

It’s my way of reminding me that Dad, even though he left me at a young age, will always be with me or beside me. It will also serve as my inspiration to push myself harder when running and cycling since I dedicate all of my events to his memory.

I hope he likes it.

This was my first tattoo and it was pretty much what I had expected it to be: a bit noisy and having my skin feel as if it was being rubbed with 70-grit sandpaper for an hour. But overall, I’m happy with it and do not regret getting one bit.

Oh, and Ann? She’s a veteran. She got her second tattoo when I was done.

Oh sure, she’s smiling there but you should have seen her later when she was wincing. You would have too if you got a tattoo where she did: just above the ankle.

Here’s her result.

Yeah…she’s pretty sore now but naturally it’ll get better.

Again, thanks to Wade Hex for being an all-around cool guy and giving us exactly what we wanted. Port City Tattoo rocks.