A Family Story
Initially, I had my mom’s script and signature done in 2010. My mom passed when I was 21, the day I started back to the second semester of my senior year of college. The arrow’s meaning is that when something is pulling you back, it’ll launch you into something greater. And her favorite color was green.
When my brother—who was 16 years older than me and one of my best friends—was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2021, I decided to add to my arm. I included signatures from my dad (passed when I was 13), grandmother (passed when I was 20), sister, and my brother’s names. I also included a drawing he did of a “little tomato”—that was one of his many nicknames for me.
The flowers are all favorites of my family members: pansies, lilies of the valley, and peonies. The tree branch and birds represent family—two large birds on the right symbolize my husband and me, and the two on the left represent his children. The two birds flying above everything symbolize our two miscarriages.
I now have a son and daughter and need to add them into the family story. I want to include them as colored birds, because they’ve filled my heart with more love, joy, happiness, and gratitude than I ever imagined possible.