Inked (& Infinite)

A couple of weeks ago I woke up in the middle of the night and had the urge to journal. I wasn't necessarily having a restless night, but certainly one filled with lucid dreaming. I had gone to bed thinking of something/someone, and continued in my sleeping state to do the same. When I woke, though, I felt such clarity and peace. I wrote about it all in my journal, and then went back to sleep.

The feelings of clarity and peace stayed with me all the next morning--it was euphoric in many ways. I decided to memorialize the moment by inscribing (literally) it into my flesh.

I headed to Great Southern Tattoo in Alexandria, VA and got inked for the sixth time. My artist, Jason, was a good sport--I wanted an infinity symbol with contoured lines and no shading (gray or otherwise) and he drew a couple of versions until I was satisfied.



Why the infinity symbol? Well, I could say that it started with Stephen Chbosky's novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower and his mention of being and feeling infinite (39, 213). It does have to do with this, but with a degree (or two) of separation.

Before Chbosky, though, it goes back to n.--a woman who's peaked my interest for some time now who I just can't get out of my mind. My friends think I'm ridiculous for carrying on about her (and they're not wrong). I've made my interests clear, and she's made her lack of interest equally clear. Still, I haven't let go (and in all honesty I'm not actively trying to. I figure things will sort themselves out eventually, and in the mean time, everything I like about her is still there, so doesn't it make sense that my desires are still there, too?)

Okay, so maybe I'm naive. I like to think of it as optimistically-romantically-inclined.

In the mean time, I am feeling infinite...

as if there's no end to what I could learn
as if there's no end to how much I can grow
as if there's no limit to what I can achieve
as if there's no limit to what I can give

The potential of life,
the possibilities of love
unbound

and my hope and faith neverending


Rather than naivety, it's a reflection of being a dreamer, and one I'm damn proud to carry with me, and show to others, forever.