Sleeve

Photo by Doug Anderson

Since last July, my right arm has become a canvas. What began as somewhat unrelated but individual images expanded into a full sleeve, surprising even me!

Piece by piece – a matryoshka doll, Aviva's Hebrew name, a plump black-capped chickadee perched on a branch amidst plum blossoms, an anatomical heart, a tufted titmouse on the verge of flight, and, as of a week ago, a chipmunk, a butterfly, and some forsythia blooms – a whole montage of spring has unfurled, a season when I always feel like I come back to life after the interiority and enclosure of the winter months.

If you've been reading my writing and/or know me in any capacity, you already know that I'm no stranger to contemplating profound symbolism. It's pretty much my default factory setting. I love imagery, I see and think in metaphors, and everything tends to present layers of meaning and possibility to explore and consider.

In fact, I have also thought that the one of the reasons I've been drawn into tattoo-ing is that it offers me a kind of counterbalance to the worlds of writing, words, and language. There's something freeing, a whole different landscape quite literally, in the visual realm.

Given all of this, I had a moment this past week as I looked this fat little chipmunk on my arm. Why do I have a chipmunk tattoo?! The hyperactive part of me that loves to evaluate, question, doubt, and criticize my every move was definitely awake and had the mic. Luckily (and thanks to therapy), I was able to recognize it as such. I had a great conversation with Mani about it.

And that's when it hit me – the chipmunk's profound symbolism, its message for me, is that not everything has to be profoundly symbolic!

Chipmunks are just freakin' cute. They're also playful, friendly, resourceful, quick on their feet, and adaptable, all qualities I'm happy to embrace.

So there you have it. In a whole picture – a tattoo sleeve, a piece of writing, a life – each individual part may carry its own symbolism but the meaning doesn't always need to be parsed out and probed. We can simply appreciate its wholeness, and marvel at the ways we get to keep discovering, uncovering, and revealing more and more of ourselves.