the name of my arm

Last year while I was at Blissdom Canada, Mark got a tattoo. It was his first one and he'd had 59 years to think about what he wanted. Our friend Pete is a super talented artist and he also does tattoos. He did Mark's tattoo, it was the self-portrait of John Lennon which I'm sure you've all seen.

Mark so enjoyed the experience and the result that he's pretty much been planning what to do for the second tattoo since we headed home from getting the first one.

Over the past couple of months, many conversations about what he should chose happened in our house. He seemed unable to make a decision and I figured that he had it narrowed down to a few things: Vargas style hula girl, Vargas style Champagne girl, Bender (in chef hat and apron) with "Kill All Humans" on it somewhere or, a picture of our sweet sheltie girl, Gracie.

I called him on Saturday afternoon while I was on a break and could hear that familiar buzzing in the background. I didn't ask what he had decided upon, he didn't offer to tell me and I just figured I'd see it later one. We went to dinner with Pete and his lovely wife Kat. The subject of Mark's new tattoo didn't really come up except when Mark mentioned that Kat hadn't seen it either and when he reminded me that his arm was tender. Later on, when we got back to the hotel, he showed it to me. It wasn't any of the things we had talked about but it is classic, a la Vargas. I think it's very sweet and for pretty obvious reasons, it reminds me of a song my brother wrote called, "The Name of my Arm."