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Tattoos are very much a part of who I am, and of course, they involve Nana in more ways than one (are you surprised?)

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• I Th(ink) Therefore I Am

• Moments with Maurice

• What's Got Me Smilin'

I Th(ink) Therefore I Am

As you may have guessed from all my stories of Nana, who has reminded me that I need to stay moisturized or well-dressed, was not a fan of tattoos. In fact, she would say that having them meant you had a “jailhouse mentality”.

Of course, there was zero truth to that, but when she was growing up, visible tattoos meant you couldn’t get a job or you were coming out of jail (or both), and to her, that was the kiss of death. 

I kept my skin bare (as we know, I love to make Nana happy) until one day I had a realization that I was a decent person, tattoos don’t change that. A tattoo doesn’t inform how I treat other people, make me less qualified, or make me mean; that’s all on me. We aren’t in the same society that Nana lived in; a tattoo wouldn’t hold me back from the things that I wanted to do. A little ink doesn’t change who I am.

So I did it, and I thought that was it. Just one and done. 

But as you very may well know… it continues (and gets a little weird).

My very first tattoo was on my right shoulder to the middle of my bicep, not touching the inside of my arm. I had begun to picture tattoos as armor and had envisioned covering my right arm in armor, preparing to shore me up to protect me from whatever life could throw at me. I had always admired the Polynesian style of tattooing and used that as inspiration for my first tattoo.

This is where the handiwork of Sebastian Echeverria comes in, the only person to ever put ink on me. There is a high level of trust I have in him because what he creates is presented to the world almost like my own personal permanent business card. Not only do I want to like how it looks, but I also want to like the impression of me it gives to other people. 

With this first tattoo, he took the time to draw it out, but now I can now give him an idea, and he runs with it. I have full trust in him because as soon as I met him, I had a connection, and let me tell you, I went to A LOT of tattoo artists to do research and find the right person.

The first tattoo FELT like mine. The personal touches Seb added, like the jaguar, made me feel like I was wiping makeup off my arm to show who I really was beneath it all.

Of course, I had to show Nana. So I went over to her house and prepared her that I had something to show her, and it went much better than you might think. Only some mild protesting.

“Mo REECE!”

“...yeah, Nana…”

“I think it’s beautiful, but you have such beautiful skin, why would you ever go and cover up your skin?”

“Nana, I still have the rest of my skin here…”

But she didn’t say anything bad and loved the art, another reason why I’ve stayed with one person for all my tattoos.

Tattoos were always driven by a special moment in my life or something I had a firm belief in.

You remember that random stranger I met who gave me an unsolicited blueprint on how to heal, protect, and grow myself to my highest potential? The one who ended up being TOTALLY right about everything he said to me? Or if you're a skeptic, just really, really lucky? He had told me that I needed to nurture and take care of my feminine side. 

In many holistic and Chinese medicine practices, this means the left side. I took part of what he said to mean I should leave my left side untouched from any ink, so I waited a long time before including anything on my left side. But then I felt that if I was to nurture my left side, I shouldn’t treat it any differently, which is why I later got a tattoo on my left forearm.

Now, it makes me happy to look in the mirror and see the things I care the most about on display for the rest of the world while also providing me with the protection and thick skin I need to face the world. 

The tattoo on my chest is a phoenix in honor of my nephew, which I got during the time when he was born and my grandmother passed away in quick succession. 

Next came the cherry blossoms in honor of my grandmother.  

Then, I have a more literal representation of my grandmother on my back, a woman in lotus pose, because she used to tell us as kids that being still is where you find your greatest power.

All in all, I have seven tattoos, but I love that they are starting to blend into one piece of artwork (or armor). 

The most painful? The chest tattoo. It felt like I was getting my nipple pierced continuously (not that I actually know what that feels like, don’t start any rumors now). 

In the end, a little pain was worth it for what I carry with me every day of my life. There may be more, there might not be. It would be impossible to plan, because you can’t plan for what is going to impact you most in life.

I’m not going to act like getting tattoos was a groundbreaking thing, but it is something that has made me immeasurably happy that I almost didn’t do because I was concerned about what others thought.

Yes, it is literally surface level, but it speaks to a deeper desire of why we do the things we want to do or why we make ourselves smaller to fit into boxes made by other people. How much do we let others guide our journeys? Others’ opinions don’t change the person we want to be or the goals in our lives. Only we are the ones who are choosing to let the opinions change us.

Moments with Maurice

If you only pause to reflect on your life for one moment today, do it now.

If you’ve been journaling along with me, take the time to pause on the reflection and write down your answer to the prompt. Even if it feels silly in the moment, looking back on what you’ve written down can be eye-opening when you start to see patterns form.

Because no matter what, there is always something to smile about.

The Downshift

On the left is a BAC race car, and on the right is an E9 BMW, both pictured at the 3rd Annual J&B Charity Car Show. I’m not sure I’d ever be able to drive a BAC I’d be worried about my hair getting messed up. But do you know what’s better than cars on the weekend? Cars with PIZZA (Pugsley’s Pizza to be precise) on the weekend.

Making Magic

My friend Sarah sent me some samples of her gluten-free almond flour pancakes from her company, Wild Rye. Yes, I still eat gluten (a lot of it), but I’m always down to experiment with new flavors and see how something impacts my body. Cutting certain things out isn’t necessarily a sacrifice, but more of a prioritization of something else.

One thing I will always prioritize now is having some honeycoooommbb, and a huge thanks to Christina and her husband for some fresh honeycomb. What started as a joke about a year ago of me being bougie, has now become an obsession. I don’t care if my friends think I’m extra; I love it.

Nothing Left To Do But Laugh

… at the fact it looks like someone is getting beamed up by aliens into their space ship. Nate Bargatze comedy at the Garden for a reminder that you gotta laugh about shit sometimes.

Remember:

-Adrian