My love, in writing

I'm inked.

Not as much as some, but more than others.

After an impulsive "baby dragon" tattoo incident paired with a sub-par cover up job - my rule is that I have to want a tat for a year before I can get it.

Before my daughter was born, I knew I would probably get some sort of tattoo for her. I just didn't know what.

With her name being Lily and my focus of study in college being herbaceous plants (read: wildflowers), a flower was my first choice. My favorite native lily is the trout lily.

Unfortunately, the trout lily is either white or yellow - not awesome tat colors. Between not being able to figure out an artful way to incorporate my trout lily into a tat and the nagging in my head of the trite use of her name to select a design...I abandoned that idea.

Then I friended Stay At Home Babe's Lerner on Facebook. I knew she was tattooed, and I stalked her lovely ink pictures.  She has the hand print of each of her two children on her back.  (See her post here in which she recently displayed her art.)

I was inspired.

Since I always carry Lily on my left hip, her hand had basically worn its way into my left shoulder blade. I asked her daycare teacher to take a hand print on her 1st birthday for me to use.

One of four of her 1st birthday hand prints

I chose her first birthday because it was such a milestone for the two of us. We had conquered quite a bit in the first year of our mother/daughter relationship. From colic, to illness, to depression, to weening just to name a few.  We used her birthday as a landmark of new things, new experiences, new life, and greater love.

In addition to the hand print, I had to incorporate my life motto "This little light of mine". See my post here where I delve into the meaning that song holds for me.

I gave this information to my new-found bestest-ever tattoo artist Kate at Bugaboo Tattoo in Hammond, IN.

It had been eight years since my last tat. It didn't hurt as much as it had before. Maybe childbirth raised my pain threshold.

Or maybe I just knew it would be worth every sting.