Badge of Courage

My friend Cathy, an English teacher, is always up for a literary challenge. She suggested the Concord Bridge outside Boston, which Ralph Waldo Emerson referred to in "Concord Hymn" as "the rude bridge that arched the flood."

I chewed on the line, seeing how it perfectly captured my passage through the rigors of cancer treatment to life beyond. Emerson wrote "Concord Hymn" in 1837 for the dedication of a monument to the first battle of the Revolutionary War. The poem speaks of the loss of life, the passage of time, gratitude and the need to remember.

On this green bank, by this soft stream
We set today a votive stone

The waiting room of the tattoo parlor was packed with college-age women. I imagined them looking at me and thinking, "Whose mom is that?" I thought of telling them that they were too young, that this should be a rite of passage for those of us who have lived enough to have something permanent to say.

I brought a picture of the Concord Bridge to show Dave, the tattoo artist, what I wanted. He had to modify it a bit, explaining, "If you can't figure out what it is within 10 seconds, it isn't a good tattoo." My friend Ranit, a doctor, came with me make sure I wasn't at risk of contracting hepatitis C from a dirty needle.

She asked the right questions, surveyed the scene and took pictures. Ranit had performed a similar function at my chemotherapy treatments, but without the pictures. This was more fun.