save-youself

A story about friendship... and laughter.

The backstory:

I was in Louisville, KY and I wandered into a modern art gallery and found this installation by Julie Levesque.

I picked up a bracelet and dropped a dollar in the box. The bracelet read: You are going to have to save yourself.
At the time, I was struggling with how to fix my unhappy marriage and that sentence really struck a chord for me. It was a reminder I would wear for months- that it would take myself, and only myself, to make the decision to leave and to make the changes in my life I needed to find happiness within...

So, obviously, let's get a tattoo about it!

Last Friday, my best friend Kelley and I went to the tattoo shop to get my very first tattoo.

But things didn't exactly go as planned....

yes. that is what you're seeing.

Save youself.
I noticed it immediately after he finished. To be fair, there was an "r" in the paper mock up. I don't know how we lost the "r" when the artist created the stencil... but we did. In my excitement, I didn't check. Kelley didn't check. The guy didn't check.
Three strikes, you out.

After my initial shock wore off, we discussed methods to rectify and add in an "r"... only to discover that it would just draw more attention to the problem.
I looked at Kelley and said: "Well, now I have a problem I Can't save myself from..."
I could see the guilt and regret in her eyes reflecting back at me as she tried to soothe me. I knew she felt terrible.
I cannot express to you the sheer panic.
The self loathing.
The extreme desire for a time machine.
(#saveyouselftimemachine)
The fear of telling my family.
The fear of being "one of those idiots on the internet".
#NOREGERTS

We went back to Kelley's to regroup and drink champagne.
And once the shock and awe wore off... I realized that it was really quite a glorious fuck up.
I can honestly say I have never laughed so much in my entire life as that afternoon.
Kelley, the eternal optimist, kept trying to come up with solutions to fix it:
"I'll just get the exact same tattoo! Then, we can just have matching bestie tats!"
"Why would you get the whole thing?" I said...
"I just need the R!"

So...

...she did.

Because, here's the thing, you can't actually save yourself. You need people in your life who save space for you.
Kelley is an amazing friend, (I think that goes without saying) who has
always saved space for me in her heart, and now...

her arm.

I am so lucky to have people in my life who love me that way. So many people.
I still believe that certain things you have to do yourself, but life sure is a whole lot more fun when you have people to laugh with and lean on.

the revolution

Now... a bunch of my friends are getting R's. As a reminder to me that they love me. As a reminder to each other that life is imperfect and messy and beautiful.
As a reminder to themselves to save a little space for the people in their lives.
To remind one another that we r not alone...

Blane PressleRRRR