Ealain

When you want to know about your heritage, the main resource you have is your family. When you’re told by them your whole life that something is fact and there is nothing against it, you believe it.

Then, for them to say that it isn’t true, and they never said that?

When you’ve spent years identifying yourself with that heritage, taking pride in it. And then you’re told that you barely have a spec of that blood in you.

And you start to question everything else…wondering what is true and what isn’t?

Wondering what you can believe.

Wondering who you are.

Yesterday, a semi-truck rear-ended a school bus that was stopped to let off students. The school bus was pushed forward 200 - 300 feet before bursting into flames. Passers-by risked themselves to enter the bus and rescue 20 of the 21 students on the bus. The one left was “lodged” and couldn’t be rescued.

The crash occured in Citra, Florida, a small town only a few towns away from where I grew up. The bus held students from North Marion Middle School and North Marion High School, the middle school I went to and the first high school I went to.

My cousin Noelle knew a few of the students on the bus and her best friend Ama knew the girl that died: 13-year old Frances Margay Schee.

Sources & Further Reading:
Deadly School Bus Accident in Ocala
Truck Driver Was On His Cell
Marion County Officials Say Bystanders Saved Students From Burning Bus
She Had A Wonderful Smile
Girl Killed, 8 Hurt As Semi Hits Bus
4 Rescuers Tell Story of School Bus Crash
Mother Braves Flames to Pull Her Kids From Burning Bus

As I mentioned before, my tattoos tend to be me-related and I shove tons of meaning through them if there is any chance of me getting them. I want them to be pretty but I want them to represent who I am and what I believe in.

My plan for my third tattoo had all of that. My main issue with it is that it had a lot more detail and was bigger. I was definitely over-confident in the pain department, though. I take pain well and my other two (both on bone) didn’t hurt, so while I did consider that this one would hurt more, it was definitely far worse than I thought.

But, I got it. It took an hour and fourty-five minutes. Most of which was spent keeping still and digging my fingernails into my fingers and palm to counteract the pain. Why, you ask? Because the tattoo is on my left side, smack dab on my ribs.

Lemme tell you, don’t get a tattoo there unless you’re ok with tons of pain. And I take pain well.

Click the more thingy for a picture. Keep in mind it was taken the night I got the tattoo, so it’s really really red. And keep in mind it was taken with my camera phone so it is a tad blurry. Better in person. Read the rest of this entry »