Everything Changes
Remembering where we have been is so vitally important in keeping us on the road to where we want to be.
When I was very very small I knew that I wanted to make pictures. At that time it was a different vision of what it eventually became, but that base desire has been there for as long as I can remember. I just want to make pictures. I am fortunate enough that people like my pictures enough to put them on their bodies which is so much freakin’ cooler than having them in books would have been.
There is however a little bit of a gap between wanting something to happen and having it actually come to be. Making pictures is pretty easy. Making a living off of making pictures is something different.
So here it comes… another back in the day story. You know by now that I can’t help myself.
As you may or may not know, I am not the original owner of White Tiger Tattoo. It was opened in the fall of 1992 and I didn’t even work there at the time. I made my first tattoo at White Tiger on January 1st 1993 while I was still working at another shop. Perhaps you could think of it as my first guest spot. A whole lot of things happened that year but by the end of it on December 1st of 1993 I purchased White Tiger and filed my dba 2 days later on the 3rd. Making it official, but not easy.
I can’t tell you how many times I wanted to give up those first couple of years. It was a struggle. At one point I had started buying the newspapers to look through the want-ads. I was working on my resume and thought that if I could find a job that paid enough to compensate for me hating it – I would walk away from the shop. I was on the fence. I was of split purpose. Anyone who has been on the fence can tell you that it is a mighty uncomfortable place to be.
Eventually I decided that I had to give myself to tattooing and the shop 110%. Even if I failed, I was going to fail knowing that I had given it everything that I had. As a reminder of that decision and to keep me from easily going back on it I had my labret piercing done. A visual daily reminder of my commitment to my career and not possible to cover to traipse off to a job interview should my resolve go weak.
Since then I have never regretted my choice. Obviously there are days that I wish it were easier (don’t we all have those in life?) but I have never once wished that I did not take this course. The Universe has placed me on a path towards love and light and beauty and I have no task bigger than being grateful for all that has been given to me.
Monday I was given the news by my dentist that it was time for the labret to go. Nick from Dorje took it out for me yesterday and while it does mark an end it must also mean that there is yet another beginning in the making. A great deal has changed in the last month. Some of it has been scary and some of it has been exciting. I know in my heart that everything goes the way that it is supposed to go (even when it doesn’t go the way I might want it to go).
I have been so blessed with the people who have come and gone in this journey and all of those who are currently in it. Thank you all of you for being blessings in my life and walking this path with me. I am excited to see what the future will bring all of us!
May your path be filled with fruitful learning and blessings that you can see and appreciate.
Love you all!
(The labret piercing is that little sparkly that has lived under my lip for so long that most people never even noticed it was there)
Just TeeJay's Blog 