Naenae – Part 2
I have epilepsy, I get tattoos mainly when I’ve gotten past something, like a really bad seizure or whatever.
We had a big storm. The next day, I’d gone out to survey the storm for damage, and there were a bunch of green things on the ground. I said to my dad, ‘what are these?’ He said, ‘they’re chrysalises’ and I said, ‘Oh, what do chrysalises do?’ He said, they’ll turn into butterflies. And I said, ‘Can we save them?’
So he got a piece of string, and he tied it around the black bit on the top of the chrysalis, and hung them up inside on these hanging basket things that you’d have in the 80’s. My brother and sister didn’t care about these things, but I did, and they turned black and I said to dad, ‘Oh my God, they’ve died.’
He said to me to wait another few days and see what happens. And so I waited another few days, and these things came out. I was able to watch them come out. I sat there all day and watched, and then we released them. It helped me in a really hard time mentally.
It’s to remind me that if something as pathetic as a worm in a time of transition can go through a storm, get bound and tied by an angry old man and still turn into something beautiful, you and I can survive a little bit of rain, right?
I have actually told my dad about the moral of the story and stuff, and he gave me a little old man giggle. He has a real soft side, I guess, He’s a very interesting person. He’s just an absolutely lovely person to have robust debates with. I have a lot of time for him, even though our past might have not been the greatest.