No skills but a valuable lesson. It’s a strange one and you’ll probably think I’m a right ass but it hit me straight between the eyes I tell you.
I was standing staring at a picture of a dearly departed and very much loved family member that I was very close to. It suddenly hit me that I will never ever, see or hear this individual again. I don’t know why this occurred but it was just like a wave of undeniable acceptance swept across me and it shocked me.
I have my faith, that I question frequently, but it gives me comfort, and part of that comfort lies in believing I will meet my loved ones once again. But the question now is will I?
Can’t answer that I’m afraid as can no one else, I guess the truth will unfold on the day of my last breath. My god, that will be a day of truths if ever there was one.
Whilst I understand fully why people don’t like tattoos, I personally love them. Yes there are some awful ones out there however many are works of art and those that dispense them are artists.
For me they represent something I love, a time or a place that brings great comfort or memories flooding back to me, representing something deeply personal and special that has featured prominently in my life.
Alfs paw print from the vet
And this one is for my best mate, Alf who sadly left us on the 16th August this year.
Before and during the inking
When Alf passed away the first thing the vet did was take a paw print off of him that was put into a card, I said to my wife at this point that I’d have a word with my tattooist, Pablo, and see if he could do something with it. Today I have met with Pablo and the tattoo is being done.
Cling filmed for a couple of hours prior to washing
Alf was known throughout the family as “Alfie Moon” and I asked for this to be incorporated into the finished tattoo, and after about an hour the job is done and though a bit sore im really pleased with the outcome.
It won’t be in its full glory until the healing has finished in a week or two, for now it’s all about keeping it clean and protected and moisturised until that time.
Finished just needs to heal
It’s my way of remembering a faithful friend and companion that I now know will be forever with me, in my memory and now etched on to me. When people ask I can tell them the many stories of “Alfie Moon” – A very good boy.
Tattoos, taboo in many peoples eyes, but try to see the world through the eyes of others, it is an art form and art is a form of expression. If it helps, it cannot be a bad thing. And in my case my tattoos tell my life story and those special people, animals and places that have touched it.
I’m a walking art gallery, to some.
But probably not to others, the choice is yours, and yours alone.
That was the call we’ve just had from the vets. A lovely and quite melancholy call to be honest, just as if he’s had a minor procedure and he has awoken and is now ready to come home.
Reality is a little more stark. We are now heading down to collect our little fellah after he has been cremated.
Our beautiful lad has come home
We didn’t know what to expect to be honest, do we take a bag? Is he in a polythene bag? My wife was upset as she’d taken the call as I had been on nights and was in bed. I had this overwhelming feeling yesterday that he’d be coming home today, so in a way when I awoke I wasn’t surprised, strange isn’t it?
We needn’t have fretted, it was all so professional. He’s in a lovely woodland scene tube, we didn’t want a sealed casket as we wanted his ashes to go with ours in the end, please don’t judge us, it’s what we want and you will never understand just what this little character meant to us.
Paw print Lock of hairA beautiful paw print photo frame
We also have a certificate of individual cremation, with lovely words, we have a lovely little picture frame memento with his paw print, we now have to pick a picture from the thousands we have of him, no easy task and I suspect we will have words about this. The vets have taken a cutting of his fur and put it in a small phial, lovely touch. We have two beautiful cards with his paw print on, and I will be using one of these to get a permanent tattoo on my arm with his pet name as he was known to many in the family- “Alfie Moon”.
The feeling in the house at the moment is nice, all the doubt we had has now gone, and we are so happy with the professional service we have experienced.
We can now move on to the healing stage, as he is now home. It’s so weird that the immense feeling of grief has lifted and a modicum of calmness and happiness has returned, it needed to as it had been missing for some time now.
Our lad is home, where he deserves to be. And he will be with us forever more.
Foxes Den 
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