Not-so-traditional

Today (June 8th) is my Mom’s birthday… or would’ve been my Mom’s birthday. Um, how do you say that after a person has died?

Well, anyway… for Mom’s birthday weekend I decided to go somewhere I’ve never been before.

Marti came with me for some supportive hand-holding and to make sure I didn’t pass out. I left this place with one of these:

Yeah, a tattoo. A white ink tattoo so that it doesn’t scream out at people while at work or other professional gatherings. Plus – it’s truly just for me, so as long as I know it’s there then I’m happy. They tried to talk me out of getting it done in white ink – but it’s exactly what I was looking for.

My Dad gave Mom a gold ankh charm for their wedding day. It’s the one thing I remember her wearing the most while I was growing up. I thought it was fitting for me to have this symbol of “everlasting life” on my wrist reminding me of her…the woman who gave me life. It’s on my left wrist – Mom & I were the only two lefties in the family.

The pink “glow” from the tattoo is my super-sensitive and still healing skin. And yeah, it hurt like a mother-trucker. Mom got a tattoo when she turned 50 – I couldn’t believe it and tried to scrape it off of her shoulder. She said, “It’s not coming off, Jen.”

For the record, I didn’t pass out…. I may have had to put my head between my knees for a second or two, but I did not pass out.

On Sunday, me & my sisters went to the cemetery to bring Mom some flowers and visit for a while. Great plan – my little one even came with me. But there was one little problem… we forgot the flowers.

We thought for sure we’d see a place once we got off the interstate, but we forgot that the cemetery is in the middle of the COUNTRY and there was nary a florist nor a grocery store to be seen.

(Yeah, I said ‘nary’ – what of it?)

Knowing our Mom as well as we do… I mean, this is the woman who would pick flowers and plants from other peoples’ lawns without batting an eyelash.  And somehow when I got my own place, I was given a full set of steak knives from that well-known Australian steakhouse and lots and lots of sweet-n-low packets.

We saw some pretty flowers on the side of the road and brought those to her. I think she would have liked them.

Happy Birthday Mom.