Happy Birthday Hannah!

Happy Birthday Hannah!  Today On July 27 (but I didn't post this then) you turn turned eleven!

Hannah, at 7 in 2008.  This is my favorite picture of her.

On July 27, 2001, R and I moved in together, several states away from our families.  So though we adopted you in October that year, we selected your birthday as one that we (who am I kidding? that I) would always remember for its significance. 

It was only a few short weeks post September 11th and R and I were discussing wanting a pet.  I think we wanted to fill the void in our hearts, we wanted something innocent to cherish and protect, we wanted a semblance of Rockwellian ordinary life, and we wanted to feel more like a family unit.  Maybe.  I don't know.  We were on the young side of twenty, practically still kids. 

The day we brought her home, in 2001.  Still nameless at this point.

When we walked into the PetSmart adoption event, we actually were looking for a cat.  After all, at the time we lived in a one bedroom apartment and both had full time jobs.  I had normal hours, in a bank, but R was a restaurant manager at the time, and there was no normal.  There were no cats that day, but several adorable puppies.  None were siblings.  All the dogs were different breeds.  I remember another couple chose an all black dog and were wandering around the aisles looking for leather accessories - including biker jacket - for their new addition, Harley.

The moment you were placed in my arms by the rescue shelter volunteer, there was no giving you back.  You owned my heart that quickly.

Choosing a name for you took a couple of hours.  See, we'd picked out a name for a cat (Philly, after the city) but it just seemed silly on you.  I don't recall all of the names we tossed around.  But I know it was me who said, "Hannah?" while we walked you outside, on the apartment's common grounds, and you perked right up.  It was settled.  Hannah Banana Lastname was officially ours.

 

Like a seed, watch me grow.  2002

I love you.  Even though I know you likely felt less in our eyes when we started having babies and adopted more pets into our menagerie.  Even though you never did stop barking at every Tom, Dick, and Hairy creature that walked past our house or dared saunter into your yard.  Even though you are a naughty, tricksy food thief.

A nanny dog for Slim, in 2006.

I'm not ready to say good-bye yet.  And though you are not at a point where I'd have to, you are showing your age more lately.  My puppy has more aches and pains and isn't quite so spry, my sweet girl can occasionally be like a crotchety old man.  Just promise me, that when the time comes, you let me know.  Shh, yes, I am crying, don't look at me like that Hannah.  I hope I am giving you a good life.  Because I know you help make mine richer.

Having a younger dog around helps keep her young, I think.  2011

Tattoo

I have wanted a tattoo for a long time.  As in, over a decade.  I've debated over what, if, where.  One of my Pinterest boards is dedicated to inspiration and tattoos that please me aesthetically.

A pin that I kept coming back to was:

Source: flickr.com via Meghan on Pinterest

Cottonwood trees mean nothing to me, but I admire the way the leaves follow the contours of the body.  I finally settled the debate; I want a leaf (or leaves) tattoo.  But it has to be more than just a pretty picture.  What leaf is tied to a memory?

That would be the ginkgo, The Living Dinosaur.

If you "like" my blog page on Facebook, you may have noticed my cover photo of ginkgo leaves.

Source: flickr.com via Meghan on Pinterest

When I was a little girl, I often spent part of recess making bouquets from the ginkgo leaves that fell on my elementary school playground.

And on my last evening LLL meeting in Kansas, as I walked into the hospital, I stepped over fallen ginkgo leaves.  I picked one up.  Then, at the park where Slim's preschool graduation was held, a place we'd been several times, I noticed the ginkgo trees.  I grabbed some leaves.  They are all now pressed in a beloved book.  On my last morning LLL meeting in Kansas, a fellow Leader's son was wearing a shirt on which she'd embroidered a ginkgo leaf.  Sign, sign, everywhere a sign. It's meant to be.  The only question left to answer is when?

Source: millicentcrow.blogspot.com via Meghan on Pinterest