last month my brothers, and their children, along with anna, nick and my father, had a bbq for my 50th birthday

it was lovely catching up with my brothers and their families we don't get together often enough

i don't give birthdays much creedence for it is not the day we need to celebrate but the persistence of living but 50 is a large number and to achieve it is a cause for celebration

anyway, the subject turned toward body art, all my my brothers, my nephew, and even my father are tattooed but i believe i was the first of the family to get formally inked, meaning the first one to get a professional tattoo from a tattoo artist

which is my panther on my upper right hand shoulder that i got from local artist bill liberty in 1986, i was 19 and an utter idiot

but i love my panther, my sister-in-law observed how faded my panther is

my panther couldn't be otherwise, for it has been over 30 years since liberty etched the design on my shoulder

anthony bourdian calls tattoos scars of living, i'll go with his definition

i don't know if i'll get more tattoos but the ink i do have i cherish  especially when they are faded from a lifetime of wear

what more could you expect from life, a few scars, a few images sketched in skin that wears out and fades over time

my panther has been a good friend to me, he's been with me all my adult life, he is not unlike rilke's panther, deep in my skin, but when the pulse reaches its heart it is gone

that is all