It's Official, I'm 50 and Have My First Tattoo!

Although I have been celebrating my 50th for almost four months, I officially became half a century old two weeks ago. And to help me celebrate, my sister/bestie visited and we both got a tattoo!!!

Neither one of us ever considered a tattoo, but we started talking about how we might if the right thing came along. And guess what, it did, in the form of a Life Is Good t-shirt.

My sister Stacey and I live over 700 miles away from each other but that doesn't stop us from sharing in each other's daily lives. Besides texting each other the ups and downs of marriage, parenting, working, illness, etc, we have a special tradition of each and every morning sharing two positives from the day before. It's a great way to remind ourselves of how fortunate our lives are and to share that joy with each other.

Once we had decided to go ahead with the tattoo, I made arrangements with an artist. Beforehand, I wasn't 100% sure how I would feel afterwards, but one thing I have learned from rheumatoid arthritis and aging is that you can never count on your body looking the way you imagine it will. With various sized nodules throughout my body, hammertoes, a few other wonky joints, and weight gain, I figured a tattoo could not add any additional harm. Plus, people always say you will regret getting a tattoo when you are old. Ha! We waited until we were old. :)

While getting the tattoo did hurt, it was honestly mild in comparison to a flare in the shoulder. (Those are the worst, right?) But the pain is not what I remember most. What has stayed in my happy place is the energy from the evening. We were joined that evening by a mother/daughter team getting breast cancer ribbon tattoos together and tattoo artists who made the entire evening feel like a party. Music was on, windows opened, and everyone kept checking in on each other to see what progress was being made and make sure the pain was okay. Best Friday the 13th ever!

Afterwards we headed home where my awesome husband had a fire going in the backyard with wine ready to pour. The remainder of the weekend it rained so we didn't get to do some of the activities we hoped to do, but it was nice just hanging out with my sister watching movies, eating, and talking. I couldn't have asked for a better birthday. Thank you Stacey. You are truly my everyday positive.

Now that I have done it, I love my tattoo more than I thought I would. Every time I look down at my bare foot, I am met with happiness.

Our dandelion tattoo represents many things to us:

• most importantly, the positive energy we share together
• our relationship and how we are always growing and encouraging each other to be our best
• our positive nature that we love sharing with others
• a reminder to always find the positive
• a simple life can also be quite beautiful
• life is always changing