Missing Piece.

So a common conversation starter over the last month or so has been the tattoo on my wrist. Doesn’t matter where I’m at -- I could be sitting at the bar, at my store ringing someone up, in line at the grocery store, where ever really. Some people get the message behind it right away and others seem to linger for a while over the possibilities or hidden meaning that are represented by it. I promised everyone a blog in the near future with my thoughts and feelings about it and today seemed like an ideal time to make good on that promise.

I actually started thinking about it a week ago while I was sitting at the bar waiting for my plane to board. The crappy thing about San Diego’s airport is that you’re either barely there on time because of the long security checkpoint or you get stuck in the short terminal that only has 2 gates and you’re early by like 2 hours. Today was an early day. So I’m sitting at the bar drinking my glass of wine and keeping to myself when the women sitting next to me starts talking about my tattoo. She reads the word ‘missing’ aloud but seems to be at a loss for words on the puzzle piece that I have inked below it. I tell her it’s a representation of my ‘missing piece’ in life and her eyes brighten as a full on conversation begins to take place. The guy on the other side of me happens to overhear our conversation and chimes in with his ideas and thoughts on the topic.

My ‘missing piece’ doesn’t have a cut and dry definition by any means -- it’s open to interpretation and I love talking to people about what they feel they’re missing in their day to day lives. Some people think love, others money or religion. I even had one old lady stop me and tell me about her daughter that had run away from home a long time ago and how she’d never heard from her again -- seeing the tattoo in my store a couple weeks before that had some how inspired her to start looking again for what she considered to be her ‘missing piece’ in life.

For me -- my missing piece -- is happiness. Plain and simple. Watching a sunrise. Getting a wet puppy kiss. A quiet solo walk on the beach. Not having to say no to a once in a lifetime offer. Reading a good book. Being spontaneous. Taking pictures. Laughter. Ice cream on a hot day. A phone call from an old familiar voice. Running thru the sprinklers in a park. A glass of wine in the middle of the day. An old song on the radio. Family. Sitting in front of a warm fireplace. Espliffanies [lol]. Making new friends. Listening to the rain on a tin roof. Getting good news on a bummer of a day. Sitting outside star bucks and people watching. Reminiscing the good old days. Discovering new music. Trips to California. Writing. And so so much more.

See, no outlandish story or reasoning behind it. I truly don’t feel like it’s going to come down to one moment or event in my life to be ‘found’ -- I just feel like it’s an everyday reminder to pursue happiness on a continual basis. I guess the tattoo idea came up about 3-4 years ago when a good friend of mine and I were having a deep conversation late one night about what the meaning of life was. Everyone’s ideal plan is to go to college, graduate and get a good job, settle down and get married, buy a house and have their 2.5 kids and nice cars. I can’t help but think there’s far more to life than that though. Don’t get me wrong some people, correction most people, can have this kind of path in life and live happily ever after. But it’s just not what I feel like life has in store for me.