The Story Behind the Picture

Morgan asked if a picture from a previous post was of me getting a tattoo. The short answer is yes ;). The long answer is below for those who’d like to hear the back story.

Through my job I became friends with a funny and pretty great guy (and I mean JUST FRIENDS). Anyway, we started hanging out outside of the office and he introduced me to one of his roommates, who at first meeting seemed a little bitchy to be frank. I was not a fan of Nicole, nor was she a fan of me. You see, she had a thing for the guy I was newly friends with and assumed that I was around for some other reason.

Needless to say Nikki and Flannigan ended up becoming a couple (shortly after the birth of her adorable daughter) and I ended up finally getting to know her (and him) for who she really was. Once they became a couple Nikki and I started scheduling double dates and dinners at each other’s houses (with the boys in tow) and the majority of my communication with Flannigan was through her. Flannigan quit working for the company I work for and I no longer saw him daily. Everything was great with the four of us, until Flannagin and Nicole started having problems and eventually ended their relationship.

I had become so close to Nikki that my original “friendship” with Flannagin was no longer in tact. I tried not to take sides, but only one of the two of them was talking to me anymore and soon Flannagin and I (through a shitty email) were no longer “friends”. Whether we were ever truly friends to begin with is up for debate, but I walked away with one of the best people in my life to this day.

Nikki rocks my socks. She’s a hardass, but a girly girl at heart and one of my best friends. We have had some great moments together and been on the receiving end of some tear filled phone calls for one another. I can tell her anything and everything and she appreciates my “I’m not sugar coating this” attitude like no one else.

When she decided to get a tattoo last summer, I offered to take her. I’d gotten one done at a local place and the guy was super cool and did great work. The more we talked about it the more I decided I wanted to get one more done too. It took a few months of talking about it before she picked something she wanted, but when she showed me and told me why, I knew the wait was worth it.

We had printed out our designs, met up with each other and off we went to the Tattoo Parlor. I was nervous and excited, what a great first to share with one of your best friends! I could tell she was nervous, but I kept promising it would be worth it. We made our way into the shop and offered up our print outs of our desired tattoos.  Nikki went first and did awesome – she giggled most of the time, probably nervous laughter, but it helped ease the pain. After seeing Nikki’s done, I changed my mind (such the girl thing to do, huh) on what I wanted. When I hopped up on the chair, I told Tony (that’s the Tattoo artist) I wanted one just like hers. At the end of our little adventure we walked out with matching tattoos symbolizing “victory”.

It’s not to be misconstrued that I will conquer life, but that I will be victorious in my decisions. That I will not fail myself. I don’t believe that because I have this tattoo I will never make another mistake or feel deflated, but I will do my best and in that I will have a sense of victory. It represents the struggles I’ve overcome so far in my life and offers hope for the ones that are yet to come.

Every time I look down at my leg I think of Nikki and everytime I feel like I’m defeated, I have my own personal reality check. After all the very definition of victory is the opposite of defeat.