And then I saw this picture on Pinterest and I knew I had answered both questions at once.
One week later I picked up my friend Nic and we made the drive into the District to visit a tattoo artist she both knew and trusted.
I paid my money, proofed the artwork the artist had done freehand and before I knew it I was laying down on the table and giving my left arm over to the names of the two people who have shaped the woman and the mother I am today.
The artist asked me why I had chosen such a prominent place to put my tattoo and as he worked I told him the story of my two sons. I tried to put into words how my boys have profoundly elevated my life and how their very beings shaped who I am as not just a mother but as a person. I told him about their shared diagnosis of autism and how I've always seen us as the three musketeers taking on the world one day at a time. I remember saying that Sam and Noah are two halves of my heart walking around outside my body and for the rest of my life they will be one with me.
And then he told me he wanted to shake my hand.
And so he did.
It wasn't until I got home that night and took the bandage off my arm that I realized their was a wee bit of a problem with my new ink.
Can you see it?
Wanna hint?
The ampersand that should have been between Samuel and Noah's names was backwards. Instead it looks like a cursive "S".
And then it hit me.
He didn't mess it up. Arguably I messed up by proofing it and not catching the error before it was tattooed onto my arm.
But deep down I don't think it was an error on anyone's part.
I do believe that cursive "S" is there because it was meant to be there. Fate intervened and duped both the tattoo artist and me into never noticing it.
My first name, as most of you know, is Sunday. So if you look at it from this point of view it makes a lot of sense.
I will always and forever be linked with both Samuel & Noah. Truly I cannot see a day when I will not be standing between the two of them, holding their hands, and leading them through the years to come.
So, its rather fitting that my first initial is seated firmly, and permanently between the two of them.
And I rather like it that way.
