Ink Ideas

Tomorrow, in honor of my Dad, I'll be getting a new tattoo. I've got it somewhat narrowed down as to what I want, but I don't have it exactly in my head yet. I have the appointment with my favorite tattoo artist, and we've gone over some ideas....but until I see what exactly he has drawn up, I'm not 100% sure what it will look like. 

Here's what I know so far.  I want it to be in the shape of orange blossoms, but not the color of orange blossoms. (They are mostly white) I don't know if I've ever explained the connection to oranges, but if now, I will one of these days...So I know that shape of the flower, and the coloring, and the placement...but I want to add some personalizing touches to it.

 

I like the coloring of these flowers...

I like the placements of this...

and I like the shape of these flowers.

 

While talking to my friend Tom the other day about my ideas for a tattoo he casually mentioned that I should get an Ace of Spades.  At first I laughed off that idea, but the more I think about it, the more I think I will try to incorporate a little Ace of Spades somewhere in the design.  You see, Tom knew my Dad, and knew that he LOVED to play cards.  All of my friends that ever spent any time around my Dad knew that he was an incredibly sharp card player and loved all kinds of card games. He particularly loved a game we play called "Up the River, Down the River" and Cribbage.  If you are familiar with cribbage than you will understand why I am also considering adding a tiny "15-2" into the design. 

 

My Dad loved playing cards his whole life....and in fact one of the funniest stories he would love to tell us was how he won a bar playing poker (yes, seriously, an entire bar - as in drinking establishment) when he was a younger man and was stationed aboard a Navy ship in the South China Sea. (He owned the bar for about 6 months, and as the ship was getting ready to leave port permanently, he sold it back to it's original owner.) Yes, my Dad loved his card games.

 

Anyway...as you see, I'm still trying to figure out how all of this is going to come together. I've found that concentrating a bit on this new tattoo has helped me to actually look forward to tomorrow. I still can't believe that it was one year ago today that we had our last full day with my Pops.  I'll never forget the events of Jan.5th, 2012...and as strange as it may seem, I feel like his passing happened the way it was supposed to happen. His family, including my brother who lives in Texas, were all there. It was almost as if God knew what the outcome of his hip surgery was going to be and made sure we were all together.

 

Who am I kidding....of course God knew. I'm so thankful that He knew that we would all need to be together. Yes, things do happen for a reason.