A tattoo to appease

Six months of hospital, repeated transplants, a long rehabilitation. My burned body, especially my chest, had become a battlefield. I had buried all hope of putting on a swimsuit at the beach and my morale was at the bottom.

One day, my psychologist blows me: “Many burn” are tattooed to transform pain into art. I declined the idea, because I associated this practice with marginalized. I also remembered that my grandmother was castigated tattoos, “Demons drawings”.

A few weeks later, I saw Olga, whom I had met in rehabilitation. Surviving, too, but flames of domestic violence. She had put herself to MMA (Mixed Martial Arts), a brutal martial art, and a tattooed dragon adorned his scars. “I am no longer a victim. I defeated my demons, ”she explains to me.

I salute his metamorphosis. But I have no hatred. Because behind my misadventure, there is Maxime, my 22 -year -old son. A fryer forgotten one night, a spark, the drama. I was burned by wanting to protect it. Since then, he has lived crushed by guilt. One evening, he dares: “I found a tattoo artist who has very good references. If you want… ”I want.

I who had moved away from God in adolescence, I started to pray in the hospital. For my grandmother, Livia, who died of illness some time after my accident. For me too, with this promise: “If I go out, I will give you thanks.”

From now on, an Notre-Dame of stylized and discreet Fatima covers my left shoulder. In memory of Livia, whose favorite expression in Portuguese was “Fatima, Altar do Mundo(Fatima, altar of the world): All prayer paths lead to Fatima.

After the session with the tattoo artist, Maxime took me in his arms, my eyes damp, and dared this word game: “Tattoo* understood!” We laughed. He had started praying from the drama. Now peaceful, he has promised: next year, we will make Fatima’s pilgrimage together. Olga wants to come too. She told me: “You chose redemption. Me, revenge. Your path is the most courageous. ” We no longer hide our scars. We honor them. I carry mine as an act of faith.

* Word derived tatau Polynesian languages, this word means tattoo.