Beautiful Boy

I've had several people ask about my tattoos from last week's post "10 Things You Don't Know about Me", so I dug way back in the archives (AKA my old blog) and I am republishing/reposting this. It was originally posted on July 1, 2009, and this is the story behind my third tattoo. Hope you enjoy!

The original John Lennon Sketch

Close your eyes,
Have no fear,
The monsters gone,
He's on the run and your daddy's here,

Beautiful,
Beautiful, beautiful,
Beautiful Boy,

Before you go to sleep,
Say a little prayer,
Every day in every way,
It's getting better and better,

Beautiful,
Beautiful, beautiful,
Beautiful Boy,

Out on the ocean sailing away,
I can hardly wait,
To see you to come of age,
But I guess we'll both,
Just have to be patient,
Yes it's a long way to go,
But in the meantime,

Before you cross the street,
Take my hand,
Life is just what happens to you,
While your busy making other plans,

Beautiful,
Beautiful, beautiful,
Beautiful Boy,
Darling,
Darling,
Darling Sean.

So that is one of my favorite John Lennon songs, mostly because it's about his son (Sean), and it always reminds me of my son (Sean). It's just a really beautiful song. I was sitting in class last night and thinking about all the tattoos I want and playing around with song lyrics and quotes and so on, and I thought "John Lennon sketch". Years ago Curtis and I saw an exhibit of Lennon's works and I remember being struck by not only the simplicity of his work, but the love in it. It sounds cheesy but you could "feel" the love he put into these little haphazard scribbles.

I did a ton of searching and found a sketch I loved, except the boy had "his" Sean's straight black hair, and I thought this would be perfect if I could get a tattoo artist to rework it with some crazy blonde hair. The opportunity presented itself today and 30 minutes later, I had it.

Guys, I am so in love with this particular tattoo. It is by far my favorite and so special to me. Sean is at such a magical age right now; everything he does or says it so cute or so smart or so funny. He is the MOST BEAUTIFUL child ever! I just can't imagine life without him. It has been a really tough summer. I have been in classes four nights a week and most Saturdays, so I rarely see him. Thankfully Curtis takes lots of video and tells lots of great stories. I feel like I miss so much, and I know in a couple of years, it will be worth it, but it's hard to think that far ahead when you are right in the middle of it. I've been very discouraged lately, trying to balance school and work and family.

Sean is twenty-one months old... do you still use months at this age? His vocabulary has to be over 100 words, and the things he says are sometimes full sentences. The other day at a very fancy bridal shower (Love you Sara B!), he was admiring all the knickknacks in this museum of a house, admiring them in a very physical way, and he caught me looking at him and he said, in all seriousness, "Don't touch!" I was so impressed; I assumed he got it. Well, next thing you know he's running around with this probably 2000 year old box, yelling "Mine! Mine! MINE!" Oh well.

He loves brushing his teeth and elephants and cars and trucks. He's learning colors, but everything tends to be "blue." He will blow goodbye kisses to anyone. He's awesome, and this tattoo is a permanent reminder of this magical time, and that makes me happy.