Body Art Challenge

The Woman With August On Her Chest

By Tammy Reese:

The word August is tattooed on my chest. Some people probably just read that and said "super cool", "wtf", "that is totally weird", and some people are so intrigued to know more.

The month currently is October, my birthday is in November, and my name is Tammy.

So why would I have August tattooed on my chest for the world to see at any given month of the year right?

Great question! The month of August means so much to me. It means life and death..literally! So many people I love during this human experience were born or died in the month of August . Just wait..it gets deeper!

Sure, there are people I love who were born in or died in every other month of the year, but August is special for sure in my world.

My mom passed away in January of this year. Her father, who was my grandfather passed away in August 2004. He and I shared the exact same birthday, November 11th. My grandfather had tons of grandchildren and great-grandchildren and though he loved, and treated us all the same, I made it clear to the family that I was the favorite grandkid. My mom was his youngest child and she gave birth to her baby girl, me, on her beloved father's birthday November 11, 1985.

He always called me his birthday girl. I spent every birthday with him leading up to his passing in 2004. I miss him very much. I am blessed he got to see me graduate from high school in 2003, a year before he died. I have tons of fun memories with my grandfather like going to restaurants on our birthday and everyone being mindblown that a grandfather and grandaughter would have the same birthday. Also, people would be blown away by the actual digits being that 1111 are angel numbers, and powerful within the universe. People really would get tripped out even more when we told them that his father, my great-grandfather, was born November 11th as well.

My uncle who is my grandfather's son has a grandchild with the same birthday too. So that's 4 generations of my family born on November 11th. We should be in the Genius Book Of World records or something. Lol.

Now back to August being on my chest. I felt it was an internal statement more so than an external one even though you can see it clear as day at any time that I have an outfit on that reveals my upper chest area. I show it with pride no matter what month it is. I got the tattoo years after I gave birth to my one and one child, my son, in August 2009. I also named my son's middle name after my grandfather to honor him.

I wish my grandfather could have met my son. I tell my son about my grandfather just as much as I speak about my late mom, literally all the time.

Every year on my birthday I go to the cemetery and wish my grandpa a Happy Birthday. This will be my 35th birthday and for the first time I will be visiting both him and my mom laid to rest together on my birthday.

(wipes tears, takes a deep breath)

I'm so thankful he gave me my mom, I'm so thankful my mom had me so that I was able to have my son.

To some people, my tattoo may be seen as plain, confusing, or weird, but for me, it's apart of a family legacy, and a profound impact made on my life.

Now, don't get me wrong, when it is August that is when I really show my tattoo off like it's the Superman S on my chest.

Everyone's body art is unique and everyone's tattoo will not be understood but that is ok because even though some are easier to explain than others, the body art is for you and you only.

Yup I'm that woman with August on her chest !