What is your weakness on Pinterest?

 

It certainly doesn't help that tattoo's are addicting, but to have Pinterest that literally has hundreds of tattoo ideas for me to search through. The last tattoo I got was my biggest piece, and its also the one with color. I said after that one, it would be my last. Well..i'm not too sure if it is! My very first one was done with my whole family, we all got the same Superman logo with the words GO FORWARD underneith the logo. Most of you can remember that, the meaning behind that tattoo was adversity, strength, determination and family. Not to mention that in any situation the only choice you have is to Go Forward...keep pushing ahead, never give up~

 

 

The Christopher Reeves Foundation is a very important organization that is dear to our lives. I still remember the day I found out Christopher Reeves had been injured and paralyzed. It was early April 1995, and Braden was still in ICU on life support. At the time of my accident I was working at an afterschool program for schoolaged children. During one of my craft times, one of my young girls had mentioned to me that her dad had "touched" her in her private parts. My goodness what a day that was, technically I was still an ECE student...so for a child to be comfortable enough to tell me that was really unbelievable. I remember sitting at that little craft table, when she first told me I didn't hear her properly..so I asked her again to repeat herself. Once I realized what she had said, I was in complete shock. I knew I had to remain calm and unnerved as I didn't want to discourage her from talking further, however I could not for the life of me remember the protocol for this sort of situation. Thankfully I did everything correctly..the only thing I regret is not asking her more questions, and giving her more of an opportunity to talk with me. Especially since she felt comfortable to do so. I did however manage to unknowingly follow the correct procedures and handled myself appropriately. I heard a few years later that they ended up using my case in one of their classes...kinda cool, for me...not the little girl.

Back to April and hearing about Christopher Reeves and his accident, I had been subpoenaed to court to testify on behalf of that little girl. All this happening of coures while we were in the midst of dealing with our own catastrophy. Yes, the cops arrived at my father in law's house with a letter to me stating I had to be in court April (can't remember), 1995. Could my life not have gotten any worse? I remember that morning getting, ready for court my parents were coming to the hospital to sit with Braden for the day and deal with all the things he had going on to help aid in his recovery. I DID NOT want to leave him, he wasn't even breathing on his own yet. Not even attempting breaths indepedantly off of his ventilator. I was terrified to leave, hated the thought of it. My parents came to the hospital, we said our goodbyes. As nervous as I was to leave him...I did know he was in the best hands possible. He had the best pediatric intensavist doctor on call, and the best cardiac care, resuscitation team available. Plus nana and papa were there..couldn't be better. Well we were off to Brampton Court house, but we stopped at Burger King to grab a bite to eat. Well there in the newspaper was the story of Superman, and how he was paralyzed from the neck down due to a horseback riding accident.

I cried.

I cried for many reasons, but my biggest emtion was because There was actually somebody else in this world dealing with the exact same thing we were dealing with.  I cried for him, his family and how the uncertainty of this new world was killing us both. Two people who have never met, opposite ends of the spectrum...yet feeling the same way, grieveing, fearful, scared, angry and alone. He and his family were going through the same shit we were, if only it was easy enough to reach out to support him. He and Braden actually shared the same injury site, he however had a complete transection of the Spinal Cord where as Braden had a partial transection ( at the time, we thought Braden also suffered a complete tear.)

Once Christoper Reeves had finished through living at this rehabilitation centre and was ready to rebuild his new life, he started the "Go Forward-Christopher Reeves Foundation". Our family became absorbed in his recovery. We watched intently as this foundation fought for stem cell research, Spinal Cord regenration, fundraising and new promising technology advances. He wrote 2 books, which became my bibles...and if anyone could relate to his well chosen written words..it would be me. It just seemed fitting to brand our family with a symbol that became so known to us.

Superman.

Strength

Power

Determination

Go Forward.

Keep moving beyond any obstacle

 

On a side note, going back to that court day for the little girl...I spoke to the crown attourney and explained our situation. She kindly spoke to the judge and he allowed me to write my statement down under oath, and dismissed Paul and I from the court proceedings. I never did follow up with that little girl. I do know her father was guilty. He did serve time, but I wish I knew how she was today.

Well let talk about this Superman tat that I have on my ankle, the one thats been there for at least 7 years.

I am sure you can all appreciate the symbolisim of the Superman tattoo...it represents more the meaning behind Christopher Reeves foundation and his contributions to the SPI associations around the world. For my family however it's a symbol of strength...a distinct message of our families struggles and courage. I could never regret gettin this tattoo, it has just too much meaning. But, this is a classic example of how you really need to think about a tattoo before you get one. Cause if I would have thought more deeply about the placement of my superman tattoo...I would have put it on the inside of my leg, not the outside. My reason's being for personal reasons. Whenever I am at gym, or wearing shorts in the summer and someone notices it, they could easily mistaken my tat as just a "superman" logo....maybe I am a die hard fan?? That's not the case at all..I have had people approach me about the tattoo..and sometimes depending on my mood, I don't want to explain the reason's why I got it. Sometimes, its just personal...its my story..so I end up either telling the truth, or telling them..."its a really long story", and I leave it at that. Well over the past 7 years, this tattoo has taken on a dull kinda of appearance and I am thinking its time to spruce it up?! Maybe add to it? Make it look a little more feminine?! So once again I have been scoping through Pinterest looking at all the cool ideas on how I can alter this little ankle tattoo.

My tattoo looks faded but its not, it is actually a stone color..grayish and if you look closely you can see the cracks in the "S"


My initial idea was to add some tree vines, or roots running through my tattoo..but then have the roots turn into a tree, which would hold an owl (anyone who knows me know's i have wanted an owl tattoo for a very long time). So symbolically...the staple, strong base of the tree would be the Superman logo..the roots interweaving with the symbol  would represent...time, that in time we grew, we changed but we remained strong. I would like it to portray where we started...what grounds us, and ties us together, yet has still allowed us to grow.

This picture is about the closest I could get to my idea so far from Pinterest. You get the idea of the tree and owl, just visualize the a tree base with roots and my rock pimped out Superman logo...hopefully you get it. I will keep looking for options! More to come on this..
As the above ecard stated...I know pinterest is supposet to make me a better cook..etc etc, but really all it does is give me ideas for more tattoos...
 The owl will simply state and characterize wisdon..(cause I think i'm pretty smart lol) but seriously, we have learned ALOT in this life. We have become different people, we have changed...but mostly we have learned. So many life lessons, so much knowledge acquired through our experiences. Its been a journey, it really has...this life still continues to teach us many lessons and I still continue to try to pass on the things i've learned to my children. Hoping they've listened to those who have come into our lives over the years to help us move forward, those who have come in to even try and knock us off our railway...even those who have shaken our own character maybe trying to change a piece of who we are. Hold tight, grab on to those roots that keep you grounded.