Who am I? Thoughts by an Aries: Part Deux

Reader alert: If you haven’t read my January 14 entry, this might be picking up in the middle of my astrological crisis.

In April 2003, my friend Amber and I organized a trip up to Soldotna to go to the only tattoo place we knew of on the Kenai Peninsula. We were both going to get Aries tattoos. It had been the same plan we discussed all year long in weight training.

Now Amber and I are different people. We both grew up in Anchor Point (AP for life!), but have taken different paths in our lives. She became a vegan as a freshman in college, but I still embraced cheese and other animal products. She has two beautiful children, lives on the East Coast, has a garden, and is a very talented artist (here’s a link to her Esty site).

As you all know, I love meat, enjoy my dogs and grow only the plants that can fit in our apartment. And I don’t think anyone would want to buy any of my creations on the Internet.
But Amber and I have known each other since kindergarten, and that goes a long way. Especially because (at the time) we were both Aries too.

When we arrived at the tattoo parlor, I went first. Amber was still sketching out what she wanted, and I already had brought diagrams with me. My high school boyfriend Marcus went with us, and so did Amber’s best friend Angela. Afterward, we went and ate dinner at a Chinese restaurant that had an orca painted on the outside of the building.

The next day at school, we’d make sure to keep our tats covered with lotion so they’d heal properly. Amber always said that “tats love the Lubriderm.”

After high school, Amber and I haven’t seen much of each other — unless we visited home at the same time and happened to run into each. We are both enjoying our lives, and the different paths we are led down.

So my tattoo isn’t about my astrological symbol — it represents my memories with an old friend that I don’t see very often. Much like my frog tattoo that I got with Nyla, who I don’t see nearly enough.

I’d like to think my silly vegan friend thinks the same thing.