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Merry Christmas to Me

This year I bought myself a Christmas gift. Not jewelry or new skates or a new coat — I treated myself to a new tattoo. I wanted to get an old boring one covered up, so I met with an artist who’s inked some of my derby girls. We chose flowers because they work nicely as coverups, and because I wanted to add some beauty to my body and my life after an admittedly wretched past year or so. The flowers are tropical, and remind me of my sister, and nieces when they were babies in Key West. Plus it’s gonna look so rad on the flat track.

I’m so happy with it. As the artist did the work — Kristen, I totally recommend her — we chatted about life. She said to me that she thought it was awesome that I am doing something nice for myself, and that this ink will mark the end of one bad part of my life and accompany me into the next, better chapter. I agree. Would you like to see it?

and here’s the “before”