Soon after my husband died, I had the urge to do something that "my husband's wife" would not have done. It began my journey to "me", not "Mrs."

Actually, I did a lot of things that "Art's wife" would not have done. Got a cell phone contract, actually did research and changed churches, changed my major...and a few other things that not a lot of people know about. These are not "poor me" things - they are growth things, and I don't regret them.

My old pastor nearly went postal when I took a camping trip by myself (I was going to say all by myself, but the dog went along. I threw the tent and an overnight bag in the trunk and away we went. I did wimp out and stay in a hotel when the temperature dropped into the lower 30's (in the Upper Penninsula of Michigan - in July). He advocated for me to stay home and be safe ("you don't know who you'll run into"). I went to a lot of the places that Art and I went together and it taught me that I enjoyed some things a lot more by myself. It was the first time I had traveled alone and it was GOOD.

The "out of character" things seem be every two years and center around dates - two years ago, it was the day before the anniversary of my widowhood.

This year - well, today would have been my 27th anniversary.

And this year...the tattoo wins.