A MAN I KNOW AND MY TATTOO

The other day I ran into an acquaintance in the supermarket, and he appeared rather cold and unfriendly.  I've known him for a long time, and I was puzzled about the coolness, so I chalked it up to the fact that he was with his long-time girlfriend.  The man was a single father for many years after his wife left him, and he cared for his children admirably.  Both children are now married and on their own.  A few years ago, he began to go around with  a nice woman, but when he told me about her, he went to great pains to assure me that they were "just good friends".  He's a loyal Catholic fella, and he cannot marry again in the church unless he gets an annulment.  It doesn't matter at all to me if the two are friends or lovers.  In fact, I rather hope they are lovers; he deserves it after what his ex-wife did to him.

But I digress.  A few days after I saw the man, Grandpère ran into him, and he said, "Tom, let me ask you something.  Is that a tattoo on June's ankle?"  GP answered, "Yes."  It seems the man was somewhat in shock at the sight of my tattoo, which was why he seemed unfriendly.  All right, then.

I had the tattoo done after Hurricane Katrina, when I went a little crazy about my beloved city of New Orleans and its people following the devastating flood that resulted from the breach of the federal levee system.  GP and I visited relatives in Kansas City not long after, and my nephew and his wife, who adore New Orleans, had just had fleur-de-lis tattoos done.  The flower is one of the symbols of NO, referring to its French history.  I told them that for several years, I had wanted a small tattoo, but I'd never really known what design I wanted nor had nerve enough to actually do it.  A small fleur-de-lis seemed like a splendid idea, but still I hesitated.  My nephew and his wife urged me on, "Do it!  Do it!";  I asked GP what he thought, and he said the decision was all mine.  Sooo I had the tattoo done, and, several years later, put my fellow citizen in shock.

I assume that anyone who takes the trouble to read this silly, all-about-me post will be curious to see the tattoo, so the picture is below.  Please disregard the varicose veins.