Tattooed
Things that made a permanent impression...
FROM MY BLOG (OCTOBER 2013): WE ARE ALL TATTOOED
I gotta tell you honestly, it took me awhile to get used to Rosie’s tattoo. I’d ridden with her through unusual hair colors and piercings of body parts I’d always believed God never meant to have pierced (eyebrow, tongue). But this was different. This was permanent. Here's what Rose wrote for the NPR Studio 360 website feature "Occupational Ink":
In school for sound design and audio engineering, I had a professor who stressed the importance of "checking phantom power" (48 volts). To protect delicate microphones, he said, we would need to be careful about making sure the extra power supply was turned off before plugging them in. "If there's one thing you should tattoo on your arm, it's 'check +48V'"
So I did.
Now, living in New York, as an active engineer, my tattoo is a funny inside joke- and a reminder of how hard I've worked to realize my career dream.
These days, several years down the road, I don’t even notice her arm adornment; or if I do, I recognize it as a familiar feature of an appendage I’ve loved Rose’s whole life.
In Costa Rica this summer, the kids loved it when we painted their faces. Mariposa (butterfly). Corazon (heart). Granted, we used washable paint, and it all disappeared at bathtime. But the children wanted us to paint statements on them in bright colors: this is who I am, this is what I care about. They ran around giggling, delighted with their temporary tattoos.
I very much enjoy reading, and hearing, Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber. This Denver-based minister leads her flock at the House for All Sinners and Saints. Hers is a really fascinating Lutheran voice. She’s a former stand-up comic, and a recovering alcoholic. She loves the liturgy. Her congregation is inclusive to the max. To her, God lives and loves and suffers with us. And Nadia has tattoos. Lots of them, all over. Religious, many of them. Her body is etched with the symbols of her faith. I wonder (not really, I know the answer): would I be so bold as to be inked? (nah, too chicken of course). And yet…
And yet. I AM tattooed. We are all tattooed. From the minute we are born, with our downy new baby skin. We have birthmarks, and then freckles. The little touches that help make us all physically unique. Later, our skin bears the scars of sun and of time. Each laugh line, every wrinkle, is a tattoo, an irreversible marking on our bodies. Some of us try to stave off our tattoos with sunscreen, or with Botox, but eventually the marks appear anyway.
So, what do our life tattoos say about us? That we are not blank canvases but full, rich ones. So let us celebrate the message we have for the world, spelled out on our flesh: we are here, living fully every amazing day that we’ve been given. At any age, we are God’s works of art. Beautiful and beloved. Just look at us!
MUSIC: HIGHLAND CATHEDRAL
Performed at Edinburgh Castle last year by the Edinburgh Military Tattoo
Why is a military musical performance called a “tattoo?” According to Professor Google (and who can contradict THEM?) it hearkens back to the Thirty Years War, when the Dutch were in charge of garrisons of mercenary Scottish soldiers. When it was time to leave the pubs at night, and return to barracks, musicians would be sent into town to play their instruments, and inform the innkeepers to “turn off the tap” (in Dutch: doe-den-tap-toe). Tap-toe eventually became “tattoo.” Who’da thunk it?
Though we weren’t there in time for the June Highland Games, Steve and I loved our week in Scotland. In Edinburgh, there were busking bagpipers EVERYWHERE, all really good…
THINGS THAT ARE TATTOOED ON MY HEART…
When I think of books I loved to read to my kids…
There were a few that I could never get through without tears (mine, not theirs)…
UNCLE ELEPHANT by Arnold Lobel
When a little elephant’s parents are away, his magical Uncle Elephant arrives to take care of him. All the feels in this one, as a caring grownup appears just when a kid needs him the most, with silly stories and clever tricks and, most of all, love.
THE CLOWN OF GOD by Tomie de Paola
I can’t even TYPE this without crying a little. A gorgeously illustrated rendering of an old French tale about a talented traveling juggler, Giovanni, who loses his ability to amuse the crowd as he grows older. But life has one more surprise for him…a chance to perform for the greatest audience of all.
THE VELVETEEN RABBIT by Margery Williams
Oh I know, it’s on everyone’s list (along with Love You Forever, which I have the minority opinion of detesting). How does a stuffed friend become real? It takes going through some serious things, and the reader shares all the trials the rabbit endures. Becoming a “real” person is the same—it takes a lifetime of struggles that burnish the soul and make the heart shine.
MY FIRST MUSICAL!
When I think about the first Broadway musical I ever heard of…
Long before I attended a show, I discovered the soundtrack to the original Broadway production of My Fair Lady. No idea why my Berrigan grandparents owned this, as they were not theatre folks at all. But I wore out the LP playing it over and over again, and I regularly “treated” my family to my rousing rendition of “Just You Wait”—and if you’ve never sat through a five year old belting out a show tune with a Cockney accent, well…lucky you!
WHEN I THINK OF FOOD THAT SPARKS MEMORIES…
I remember Nana Cunningham’s delicious banana pudding. Nana was NO cook, so the pudding was made with instant everything. She WOULD use fresh bananas, though, so there’s that…here’s a video of NYC’s Magnolia Bakery version:
MAGNOLIA BAKERY BANANA PUDDING
AND FINALLY, THE PLACE THAT BRINGS ME THE GREATEST JOY…
I grew up going to the New Jersey shore, and had no idea Delaware beaches even existed until I was in my 20s, when Steve and I discovered Rehoboth and Bethany while on a children’s theatre tour of libraries. 43 years later, we still spend our summers living and working there—and my heart still skips a beat every time I arrive in Lewes. It used to take three+ hours to get there from Oreland. Now with highway improvements it can be reached in two, which means more and more Philly area people are vacationing there. But I’ll just say…we got there first!
BLOG PREVIEW: RAMBLIN’ WOMAN
In which I spend 500 words oversharing, as is my custom. I need a conversation intervention—or duct tape for my mouth!! Check out my new post (quietly)!
INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
That’s a new way of looking at it for sure. And maybe that’s my wish for us all this week—that we take a fresh look at something we never understood before. Have a great week of discovery, my friends!!