The following week, I and a Friend of mine drove to Kokomo to the tattoo place. We were there early and I was nervous, despite it being my second tattoo. I was not nervous to be in the shop by any means, the shop was clean, open and most important certified. My friend, who had drove and I've known since elementary school, had never been inside a tattoo shop and looked vaguely like a deer in the headlights. A group of giggling young women stood looking at the tattoos choices, I remember them saying "let's get a unicorn!" (seriously....I'm not joking). social settings make me uncomfortable to begin with as I'm generally quiet and tend to stay away from the lime light. My tattoo artist arrived and asked me again what I was getting. I told him again and heard one of the girls say " batman?" to which she and her friends giggled. The tattoo artist brought out a page full of bat symbols and i choose the one I liked the most. The artist quickly sketched it out and the tattoo began....
Many people have asked me why I chose the Bat symbol, they also wonder about the date that is in the middle. No, it's not a thing that my grandpa and I shared, as some people have guessed. Bat man is a hero. To me, my grandfather was a hero as well.
Donald E. Barnes Jr. was known by many names, Duck, Grandpa Duck, Ducky, Donny, the list goes on. there have been people that have tried to taint the image that I have of him. I've been yelled at for even choosing to memorialize him the way I did. To the people that I really wanted to know what they thought, they understood. They liked the thought behind it, and to me that's all that matters.
He died my junior year of high school. I wasn't told immediately after he died but I found out later that he had passed Sunday November 15th, two days after my 17th birthday. I had gotten my birthday wish, He wasn't in pain anymore.
My grandfather taught me many things, but the one thing that I'll always thank him for teaching me is people can change. Its possible.
changing is possible....
So as long as I know that change can happen ,that I can make it happen. I'll keeping trying to better myself. I've got a long road ahead of me, but I can do it.
