I swear I had a title for this entry in my head not 30 seconds ago, and now, phhht! But it's okay, because each day I'm finding more and more to enjoy about this process we call "aging" with so much contempt. Some aspects of it are quite liberating. Ever see an elderly person walking around in clothes that look comfortable but don't match and look all weird? Yeah, it's because one day that person was getting dressed and said "Hey, know what? I don't have to impress anybody anymore! What the hell to do I care?" And you see the result.I got a haircut this morning, which I always enjoy because I love my hairdresser and like seeing him, and he puts stuff in my hair that makes it shiny and then my gray shows up more, nice and pretty, and I like that.
After that, but less than an hour ago, I also had the grand epiphany for my next tattoo, so I'm all excited about that. I wouldn't get one unless it hit me, just what I wanted, just right, which is the way I got my first two. I've thought that if I ever got another one, it would be words, but the right words hadn't come to me. Today I got them. I can't show you the picture, although I just worked it all out in Word, the right color and shape and font, because I can't get pictures posted easily just yet. But it's an oval shape about an inch wide and a half inch wide, with a word along the top arc and another word across the bottom arc. Purple, of course, in a typewriter like font. The words are:
obladi
oblada
Because you know what comes after "obladi oblada", don't you? Yes. Life goes on.
It came to me in a totally through-the-back-door kind of way. First, when I picked up my car on Thursday, the iPod no longer played through the radio. No idea how that got messed up, and I didn't have time until today to sit in the car and go through all the stations to find one that matched. Once I did, I put a random mix of songs on and pressed play. The song that came on was "The Bright Side of Life", which of course, is a Monty Python song. I drove along, grinning, because it is a great song, remembering that this was played at Graham Chapman's funeral at his own request. What a perfect song for a funeral, I thought, I hope they play it at mine. That and "Obladi Oblada", because what better philosophy is there than "Life goes on?"
Indeed. Just then, turning out of the Pathmark parking lot onto the road, I knew that that was it. I've got it all worked out except for the exact location, because I'd like it on my left foot, on the inside, below the ankle bone. I've seen tattoos there that looked good, but I don't know about words, and if they'd get all distorted and stretched out as I walk and move my foot. I'll have to think of an alternate location, and ask them at the tattoo place if my first choice will work. I'm thinking sometime this summer.
It's the little things that make me happy.
