A new tattoo

Over the weekend my wonderful tattoo artist imprinted upon me a now daily reminder of my mother, as if I really needed one, but it's beautiful nonetheless. I chose this particular piece because it is indicative of who my mom was in a sense, the butterfly represents the freedom that my mom had (when she wasn't chained down by her addictions) and the 4 bears represent the different facets of her personality, each one is different, each one is placed in it's own world and thats how my mom was, she was something different to everyone, but the butterfly contained her while also allowing her to be free. I added a few personal touches, one bear is holding a football (my mom loved her 49ers) and one is holding a baseball (she also loved her Giants), each of those will be done in the colors of her favorite teams. I know you can't really see it at the moment but I placed her name along the lines at the top of each wing, you can sort of see it, but the flash kind of whites it out a little. I know she would be "proud" of the tattoo, since it represents her so well, oh yea I forgot to mention, I chose the Grateful Dead because of her love of the band :) and my love of the band as well. I miss her all the time and I know this holiday season is going to make me a wreck, but I will get through it and pretty soon each year will get easier (I hope). I wanted to share this part of me with all of you since I can no longer share with her in the physical aspect, I feel her looking over me from time to time, and every now and then I hear her laugh especially when Nate has done something truly hilarious :). I guess she's not really gone, she lives on in me and my children and for that I am grateful.

Miss you mom, I love you and I hope you like your tattoo :)