Eat All The Food, Get A Tattoo, Visit The Landfill.

Yeah, that about covers it. Never say I don't show you a good time when you visit me. Know that, first of all, you're gonna get taken to a shack on stilts in a swamp, out in the middle of nowhere. FOR FINE DINING.

  

You will be at Cotham's Mercantile, and you will order a Hubcap burger. No, you don't have a choice, don't even ask for a menu.

   

If you're The Cowboy, you'll finish it and still be hungry. But you're not, so you won't. That man is an eating machine.

  

 Later, you will pass out. When you do, I will sneak in to where you are sleeping, take your picture, and post it to The Internet. Fair Warning.

  

Now, in The Cowboy's case, all this time, bear in mind that he was still working like a dog around here at any time that he wasn't eating or sleeping. So he was earning his gigantic burgers, and anything he wanted that I would cook for him, and all the protein shakes and/or fruit smoothies he asked for (which, by the way, equals A LOT), or homemade blueberry pancakes he could eat. Point being, he pretty much deserves anything he wants at this stage. And one thing he's been wanting for a long time was a tattoo, and he's a grown man with a pretty bicep (see photographic evidence above), so why not?

After he spent days on end looking at various tribal-inspired designs, and showing them to me, and me looking at designs and showing them to him, and both of us saying, "I like this part of that one, but I like that part of this one, and I wish this one went this way or that thing looked this other way," something in me finally clicked home when he said, "I wish there was one that looked like this but with a bear in it. I love bears, they're kinda like me," I had a super "DUH" moment in which I realized that yes, I am, in fact, artistic, and I said, "Um... you know, I could probably do that for you." It took The Cowboy about 4 seconds to respond, "Really?" and then another 2 to add, "Do it, then!" and another 7 to start asking me if I was finished with his tattoo design every 10 minutes for the next several days. But you all know me: If I was going to be involved with this, I was going to AGONIZE over it, especially given the permanence of the finished work, and the location of it upon aforementioned pretty bicep. It was going to have to be right.

So I spent a few hours staring at photos of grizzly bears. Usually with a pencil in my hand and blank paper in front of me, but just staring and doing nothing. And I spent a few more hours delving into the symbolism and meaning of the bear as a totem or spirit animal, and so much of what I found was so appropriate for The Cowboy that it just super-confirmed that he needed this bear.

Some of the passages I read were things that describe him perfectly, while others described things that he is growing toward, and with which he struggles. There is a duality to Native American bear symbolism--it represents both tranquility and patience (hibernal periods, thoughtfulness), and the attributes of a warrior; formidable power. I recognize all of this in The Cowboy. When things are going well for Mr. Bear, why, he's a sweetheart. Snoozing in the sun, snacking on some berry protein smoothies berries, scratching, just doing his bear thang. But challenge that happy fella, and things are going to be going Not Your Way very quickly.

In the Native American tradition, the bear as a totem animal carries "messages" of patience and connection (rolling with the flow of life, being tuned in to what comes your way and responding thoughtfully), confidence and authority (I mean, come on, it's a BEAR--my favorite quote on this was, "No one questions the bear."), and finally, nurturing and protection. I have never seen The Cowboy get up on his hind legs faster than when in defense of someone he loves, or just taking the "right" side of an unfair fight. I think the following passage is the one that stopped me in my tracks and made me go, "WHOA:"

"...there is a unfathomable power surging just beneath the surface of the bear which is potentially explosive. The Bear has imminent domain, and when it deems that space altered, it is fully prepared to defend. Woe be to the one who provokes the wrath of the bear. In this powerfully impressive display of defense and aggression we pick up bear meanings of sovereignty, courage and themes of the warrior."

The bear is associated with multiple traditional mythologies, almost always as a totem of a warrior: Scandinavian (Odin), Greek (Artemis), Celtic (Thor), and of course, Native American. In the latter, and some other traditions, there is a strong connection between Ursa and the moon, and that fits The Cowboy as well. I could go on an on. Let it suffice to say that for this man, for a symbolic piece of body art, BEAR = GOOD FIT. The bear is all about balance, and that is something that suits The Cowboy, both in the cases in which he has it mastered, and in those in which he still seeks it.

So once the whole "Yes, it needs to be a bear" issue was settled, there was the whole rest of it to worry about. And as you all know, worrying? MY BEST THING EVER. So I spent another lifetime examining 14,792 photos of tribal tattoos, borrowing an element here, another there, making up lots of others, getting an idea for a shape or a line from something totally unrelated to bears OR tattoos, talking to The Cowboy about what he wanted, staring at the shape and flow of his shoulder and bicep (yes, this part was particularly painful for me, you may pity me now, *cough*) and then finally, at long last, sitting down and putting pen to paper. This is what I came up with, Cowboy-approved after some minor adjustments.

 

So meanwhile, during this process, I had also spent 792 hours perusing the online portfolios of every tattoo artist in a 70-mile radius, and we settled on one finally and made the appointment. The whole thing took just under three hours to ink, I think substantially less than it might've, since the tattoo artist didn't technically have to draw anything herself. Scanned in my drawing, flipped it to fit the right arm (we'd been concerned about a scar on that arm, but that's where he really wanted it to be if possible), slapped a purple stencil on there, and got right down to work.

 

1. The gentle inward-curving sweep of the whole design was his idea, and I am really impressed with how well it integrates with the shape of his arm and shoulder. Very pleasing.
   
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3. After all that, there's really nothing left but a romantic outing at your local landfill. 
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   Or am I doing it wrong?