I have 2 daughters and when we get together like this week, when my oldest daughter comes home from college for the holiday, we are like 3 peas in a pod…

Last May I wrote about turning 50 and how in order to celebrate I ran way with my best friends and got a tattoo in the shape of the “swan swish” that I use to sign my paintings. I considered it a way to “sign myself” at 50. Here is who I am. What I have created in myself so far.

But that was my second tattoo.

My first tattoo I got 2 years ago right after Thanksgiving. My oldest daughter and I got it together when she turned 19. She had been dying to get a tattoo and so we made her wait until age 19 to make sure it was really what she wanted. And what she really wanted to get was the word “love” written out in my mother’s handwriting in the exact way she always signed her greeting cards to us. So how could I argue with that? Thanksgiving was always my mom’s favorite holiday as well, so the timing was deliberate too. We had lost her a few years before to cancer and so it was a very special thing that my daughter wanted to do.

So I did it with her.

We held each other’s hands through the pain and got them in the exact same spot-  inside of the ankle. It is not really a tattoo for “show.” Just more of a quiet reminder to ourselves. So this weekend, my youngest daughter is getting hers. Right after Thanksgiving and put on right in the same spot. We will match now- 3 peas in a pod. And we will hold hands and cry a little bit.  And not from the pain.

And that is a beautiful thing.

I wish you very happy Thanksgiving. Be sure to hug your mom.

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