Tattoos

I had my memorial tattoo for Max done and I'm so happy with how it turned out!
At first I wasn't sure if I wanted to do anything more than just the butterfly, something little. I thought I didn't want something that said to everyone that I had 'lost a baby' (I hate that sentence, maybe more on that later). I was worried that it might become a conversation topic when I didn't want it to and that it might upset me. I finally realized that it upsets me, whether I have a tattoo or not and whether or not I see it all the time....it's always there.
I decided to have his footprint tattooed on my wrist, surrounded by stars and a butterfly to symbolize his spiritual transition. The butterfly is also designed to have the shape of an M in the wing.
I am so very glad that we took his footprints that day in the hospital. I thought they'd just be a keepsake in a book somewhere, I didn't have any idea at the time what they would mean to me.
I will always carry this mark on my heart, where a piece of it died with Max that day. Now I have his footprint seared on my wrist as indelibly as the print it left on my soul.

Little Footprints

by Dorothy Ferguson 

How very softly you tiptoed into my world.

Almost silently, only a moment you stayed. 

But what an imprint your footsteps have left upon my heart