A Remarkable Lady

Last week, I picked up a client in Portsmouth and drove her to Portishead. She was returning home after a two-week cruise, and during the journey she shared her story with me.

Many years ago, her husband served in the Royal Navy. Each time he came home on leave, there was a new baby waiting for him. He was away at sea for every single birth. Together, they raised five children. Those five became sixteen grandchildren, and now the family has grown to twenty-two great-grandchildren — and counting.

But it was another part of her story that really stayed with me.

After her husband passed away, her fingers began to swell, and she could no longer wear her wedding ring. It upset her deeply. One day, while sitting in Costa having a coffee, she noticed a young woman with a tattoo on her finger. She struck up a conversation and asked where it had been done.

Two days later, she caught the bus to Weston-super-Mare and had her wedding ring tattooed onto her ring finger.

A couple of weeks after that, she had another tattoo — a Welsh flag on her shoulder. Then, a few weeks later, she added one more: the names of all her children, inked onto her arm.

At the age of 89, she got her very first tattoo.

She turns 90 in a couple of months, and she already knows what she wants for her birthday — one final tattoo.

Some people leave you with more than just a memory of a journey. She was one of them. A truly remarkable lady.