In Memoriam

I finally did it,

 and it only took me 49 years!

I got my first tattoo.

Bobbie Jo DeGree

I have always loved tattoos but I never got one growing up because I was raised in a very conservative household.  I never got one in early adulthood because my husband frowned upon them.

Now I am on the cusp of turning 50,

and I think it's about dang time that I decide what I want!

I have talked about getting the signatures 

of my deceased parents on my arm for years.

The day of our 25th wedding anniversary, 

Doug surprised me with a road trip.

It was full of naughty things that a 50 year old conservative Catholic mother of five definitely SHOULD NOT do!  

Our first stop was the tattoo parlor.

I got the signature of my late mother on my forearm.

Underneath is a stem of four pale pink roses.

One rose for each of the babies I've lost.

I pray every day for her and them.

And I beg God to let her be their caretaker 

until I can hold them again.