[thedivahrrrself]

my first tattoo was a rainbow music staff with the notes to Here I am Lord.

this tattoo is me when I was 22 - pious, utterly obsessed with music, determined that I would always feel this way. I was Debbie do-gooder, who picked up every bum I saw on the side of the road and bought him lunch - until one told me, over lunch, why I shouldn't do that. I was on a mission from a higher power to save everyone.

while I am not the same girl I was then, there will always be a little part of me who is. but that moment, it was a transition. several members of my family had passed, I was deciding to end my first long term relationship, and I was changing careers.

the older I get, I imagine that that year or so will just seem like a moment in my history, but that was the moment my life changed directions completely, and that tattoo is everything that symbolizes that moment in my story for me.

in this last decade, I have been an advocate for people and causes inside political and social arenas. over this current "moment" in my history, I have experienced many sad endings and some major triumphs. I don't know which part of me I will still hold onto in the next decade, but I know that I am changing, and once again my life is taking a new direction.

and, once again, the painful transition is marked with a permanent scar.