I got a tattoo today. It was time anyway. The damn thing was chasing me every time I was in town. I couldn’t look ahead without tattoo parlours screaming at me from the advertising signheads put on buildings. It was the only thing I saw when I went to town. It was the only thing I saw when I counted my left over money, my mind would go into, ” hope you’ve left enough for the tattoo”
So I searched for a credible tattoo place and contacted them and went. And as I sat there waiting, the thoughts running through my head seemed to suggest that that would be my first tattoo. Emphasis on the word first.
I felt exhilarated. Like I’m finally doing something I’ve been wanting to do since last year when I got my first peako tattoo. I thought of how I would send her the first picture. How I would post it and take pictures of it.
Shock on me when the tattoo guy finished and I didn’t like the damn thing. Yap! I know. I can hear your chest falling. Mine did too.
I felt as if the image was too big. Too black. Too out of the place I wanted it to be . Too conspicuous. Too too too…
So I came into the house, scrubbed it in a bid to make it go away faster and decided to actually just look at it.
The stars are bigger than I wanted. The last one doesn’t even resemble a star. But you know what?
I fell in love with it all over again. What I thought looked too dark, now looked so pretty against my light skin. The last star might not be a star as much, but ooh well..its mine.
So yeah. I finally have a tattoo. Nowadays I’m ticking my bucket list like crazy. Had you told me last year the kind of things that would chase me around town refusing to give me peace of mind, I would have laughed at your crazy imagination.
Now look at me. Aki si I’m loving this person I am right now! Sometimes I sit and laugh at my priorities in life and how I enjoy things I would never have considered a while ago.
Anyway so now that the tattoo is in place, next in line are some shoes I’ve been having dreams about. I see Bata anywhere and my mind reminds me I have a debt to pay to my feet. I want those shoes.
See how much of a child this grown me is becoming. I’ve barely relaxed from getting one thing and my eyes are into another.
But you know what finally gave me the push for the tattoo? An Oprah Winfrey book. The first chapter was on Joy. And how despite life’s circumstances, she goes after joy ,every single day. If drinking a certain type of tea makes her happy, then she’ll enjoy it every day. If travelling gives her the high kind of joy, then she’ll go somewhere once in a while.
What makes you happy? Both low key happiness and high end happiness? What made you happy today? What will you do to give yourself some joy tomorrow?
Mine was a tattoo among many things. And I’m really glad I put a smile into Mercy’s heart finally.
Mwende Kyalo 