Pedicures and Ponderings...

My Hubby actually took a half a weekend off...meaning he only worked until noon on Saturday. We had lunch out and then he took me to get a manicure and pedicure. He does know how to woo me!

While getting my pedicure I realized the last one I had was the day I got the tattoo with the only daughter, quite some time ago. I also, realized I had promised to post a picture of the tattoo and here it is...over all I am pleased although it is larger than the only daughter's. As I have said I am glad I have it but I won't do it again...I got the one I wanted and it frankly hurts too much for me to have another.
During my pedicure...
an Asian women while doing my pedicure was talking to me and I was having a hard time understanding her, in addition to her accent she said she had hurt her tongue.
But, she looked at my tattoo and asked if it was a tattoo...I said "Yes." She said "Way yoohaanofasonyafis?" "I'm sorry...I don't understand..." She said more loudly and not much clearer but while pointing to my tattoo..."WAY YOO HAAN NO FAS ON YA FIS?"
"Why don't I have a face on my fish?" I asked ...she nodded yeah "Way nau?"
I explained when early Christians wanted to know if someone they first met were a fellow believer they would draw the single arch in the sand and then if the second person was a believer he would intersect the first arch with a second arch making the fish symbol.They would know a fellow believer while not endangering them to possible persecution. It is a symbol only a fellow believer would know, as Jesus was said to make "fishers of men"....she nodded and said again "Yeh, way nau a fas, too?
I don't know...

It was then that it dawned on me... some people will thinkI have a faceless fish tattoo. I thought this ancient symbol was no longer a mystery now-a days...I was wrong...we can still share the story!

Thelma and Louise's Daughter's Big Adventure!

He did a great job! I just was a very big baby.

So, Monday, got a tattoo.

Sometimes, reality doesn't just "bite" it hurts big time.

First, I am glad I have it, second I do not understand why anyone would ever get a second tattoo!

My Mother (keep in mind, I am 50) said "This is the dumbest thing you have ever done"...Wow, is she forgetting some pretty big events in my life. Apparently, I have lived them down! Maybe, I just erased them with this current event. She also said there would not be a mother-daughter bonding between she and I similar to my daughter's and mine, because as she reiterated ..."This is so dumb, Ronda" and, it might have been...I look at the pictures and have to say my idea of what I was doing and the reality of what occurred doesn't mesh well. I made less a fuss giving birth to three children without pain medication than this tattoo. Let's just say I behaved poorly and I don't think I am allowed back into the tattoo parlor. The only daughter is showing off the red marks on her poor hand! I don't even remember squeezing it! In addition, my colorful language was so bad she was pleading with me "Mama, No!" Not the religious experience I thought I would be having! It reminded me literally of Peter denying Christ while the rooster crowed. I honestly thought I would pray and breathe quietly through this experience. Some guy next to me got a tattoo of a very colorful "whatever"and sat through smiling while I screamed like a banshee! The experience wasn't what I had planned...Life is seldom what we plan...but look at my daughter! I had the best time with her...albeit a little painful and that is a gift from God!

Note: After the swelling goes down...I'll take a picture of the tattoo.

WHHHHHHHYYYYYYYY?

That was my hubby's response when I said I wanted to get a tattoo for my 50th Birthday, which was last month by the way. He made the word "why" have eight syllables as he asked the question. I had thought about it for a long time but this was really my first time talking to him, or anyone else really about it. When my daughter was 21 she got a tattoo and I am sure I said "Why" exactly the way the hubby did! She said that she wanted to and that she got a tattoo of an ichtus. "Okay, what the heck is that?" and her smarty pants reply "Mom, it's the Greek word for the Christian Fish symbol." It's hard to argue with that and also she was 21 and not seeking my approval as it was already done. I stupidly asked if she had been drinking...picture this if you will my drunken daughter asking a guy to tattoo a Christian symbol on her foot. Too funny! "Moooommmm" "They won't do it if you have been drinking!" Then I thought ..."She can never deny who she belongs to." You see now a days, everyone pretty much knows about the Christian Fish Symbol because you see it on car bumpers and anything labeled Christian but in the early days only fellow Christians understood the symbolism. The fish would not have been an obvious symbol to people who would persecute Christians. But to believers they would know that Jesus asked several fisherman to be his disciples, declaring to make them "fishers of men."

It's said that when a Christian would meet someone new he would draw an arc in the sand. If the other person were a Christian they would finish with a second arc. If the second person were not a Christian they would not complete the symbol with the second arc and the half symbol would not reveal or endanger the first person.

We obviously live in a country where I don't have to worry about any real persecution but the idea of me permanently labeled as a Christian seems really important to me. I want to stand for my faith and I hope in a positive way. I am a Christian. I do not pretend to agree with all those who label themselves as Christians, I just know who I belong to. I know I don't need a tattoo to show that I am Christian but next Saturday, I am getting a tattoo on my foot, just like my daughter's!

I am a little afraid of needles... but not persecution.

I want others to know I follow Him.

As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, as they were fisherman. "Come follow me" Jesus said "and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him.

Mark 1 16:18