A New Tattoo
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In the midst of the worst depression of my life, a tweet popped up as I doomscrolled on by. It was December of 2020; we were still at the beginning of a pandemic that would kill millions and plunge me into a thicker depression than I’d ever known before. I didn’t know yet, but choosing to go on Twitter that day would change my life, in a small way that would ripple across the years until I found myself lying on a tattoo artist’s chair as he inked 3 little penguins on my bicep.
I am not one for animal videos, pictures, documentaries. I’ve never seen that one about the weirdo lion who’s in love with his owner and finds him again on the savanna or some crap—I dunno. But when I came across that tweet on that dark december morning, I clicked through. Hey, I thought. Maybe it’ll help.
Penguins, migrating from the upstairs of an aquarium to their downstairs lair, jumping and hopping down each step with glee. It was simply something too cute to even be recreated in a Disney film. And it reminded me that my baby nephew, only 18 months old, hadn’t met any penguins yet. He hadn’t gone to any zoos or aquariums. He had missed so much stuff because he was born 11 months before the world shut down.
He didn’t know what penguins do and why it’s so incredible and beautiful that we get to witness it. And I had to show him. And I couldn’t, if I listened to my loneliness and gave into the darkness. I had to introduce him to penguins.
In the years that followed, we did just that. We watched him absolutely lose his mind with joy, confusion and wonder as he saw them swim at the Turtle Back Zoo. And so penguins for me became a lamppost in a dark world. And Leo and his sisters became my own penguins, little creatures I was so damn lucky to get witness live.
For the last couple years the kids and I have gone back and forth about what kind of tattoo I should get for them. We considered flowers from their birth months; random birth gems; their drawings (turns out they’re not future artists, no offense kids!). And then we landed on…penguins. And I remembered the joy and magic they’d brought me that one December in 2020. And the magic they showed Leo and the girls every time we saw them.
So on Wednesday, 3 little penguins were drawn on my arm. And we love them. The kids picked out which ones they are. My three favorite people, my three little penguins.
(See Instagram @kellybergin for photos 🐧❤️)