Saudade… 

There is no word more perfect to describe my feelings, especially around the holidays. 

Allen and I had planned to get tattoos for Christmas in lieu of exchanging gifts. We haven’t had any ink in almost 4 years, which is entirely too long!

We got into town on Thursday and he said we had to do something on Friday but wouldn’t tell me what it was. Can you say super annoying? I was pretty upset because I might just have a little piece of control freak in my nature…. I asked a million questions but he wouldn’t tell me anything. So we came up to my mom’s on Friday, he went and picked up his kids, then our friend Katie stopped by after work.

She told me to close my eyes and hold out my hands. Then she put money and a business card for the tattoo shop here in town and said she made an appointment for me. By far, the best surprise I could’ve never expected! (I love you Kate!)

I’d had an idea of what I was wanting, and Allen had been sort of planning his, but we had to narrow it down and just do it. Mark at Pushin’ Ink in Mt. Healthy, Ohio has done a LOT of our buddy, Shawn’s tattoos, and I can see why now. He was really good at getting our ideas down on paper and he has the most beautiful handwriting I’ve seen. He’s also not super heavy handed, thankfully!

Allen says the saying in the tower industry is “the steel is stronger than the mind” so that fit perfectly.

We couldn’t be happier with our new ink!

Merry Christmas Eve!