New Tattoo

It's a big committment to marry someone. Perhaps one of the biggest committments of your life. Lately, I found something that, strangely enough, seems more so.

Consider this ... would you put your spouse's face permanently on your body?

I got the idea just before Holly's birthday and looked at a link she had sent me while she was researching what she wanted for a her next tattoo. I visited the link and was amazed by the quality of work the artist had to show online. So, on a whim, I gathered up 3 or 4 of Holly's best pics and drove to Colonial Heights to visit Tom at Mystic Tattoo.

Tom is a great guy. A free-loving spirit with strong convictions and a tremendous heart. We started off with a business transaction that turned into a friendship. Over the next couple of weeks Tom created several drafts of a photo I brought him and Holly's beautiful face began to emerge as a living piece of artwork. Tom, recognizing how much this meant to me took great care in constructing the picture, and even when it was perfect, he fretted about this line or that. Finally we had a date for the job ... Friday June, 23rd. (Brenda, Tom's wife and an absolutely wonderful woman, shifted the busy schedule around and got me in as soon as she could.)

As Friday approached I was excited and nervous. I'd never had a tattoo done on my chest and I heard stories of how painful it could be. But I began to realize it wasn't just the pain that had me on edge. It was the fact that I was about to put another person's face permanently etched upon my own flesh. As I thought about that, I realized this was the true marriage proposal. It far outweighed me getting down on one knee in an empty mall courtyard and blubbering something unintelligible that neither Holly nor I can remember. This was hardcore. This was real.

Now, two days after Friday, I feel truly married to my wife. She is truly a part of me and I have no regrets. I love her. And everyday hereafter I can simply look into a mirror and see her beautiful face smiling back at me. I am a happily married man.

(Pictures of the tattoo are in the gallery section.)