Natasha has a lot of best friends and I think you all know who you are! However, one bff of Natasha’s is Janelle. Janelle and Natasha met when they were 8 months old. Janelle’s Mom and I shared our caregiver Gena between our two homes.
For 12 years they played hard and never lost their bond!
Recently Janelle sent me a text with a picture of a tattoo she got on her inside arm to honour and remember Natasha:
Janelle: Just wanted to show you the tattoo I got :) one of the flowers on the right is inspired by the flower on that birthday card, and the little flowers are inspired by my ring I got with Natasha, also added some butterflies :)
Saskia: Wow Janelle you made me cry:) how sweet of you to honour your friendship with Natasha. You are BFF’s forever! And one day in the future because of Jesus you will see each other again! What hope we have! You will be able to share your story of friendship with others wherever you you go. Bill and I are very grateful to you. May I do a blog post on Natasha’s web site of your photos and text? Could you send me a picture of your ring and maybe anything else you want to say about what this tattoo represents and how it excites you?
Janelle: I also have Natasha’s ring hanging in my car. I thought it was finally time for me to get this tattoo because it was something I’ve been thinking about for the past few years, I don’t talk about it much and I think by having this piece on my arm it makes it more open for conversation and also carries Natasha with me everywhere I go. I wanted to subtly include one of her drawings from a birthday card so that there was something directly connected to her, and I also included some butterflies to symbolize her as well. We had gotten those rings from the mall when we were 12 and Natasha had been in her wheel chair, and since that day I have always worn it so I thought it would be very important to me to also have those flowers represented as well. I thought it would also be nice to include ‘not enough nrg’ because she was gone way too soon, and it also is a play on the word energy with her initials which I also think represents her personality and how she was before she was affected by her cancer.
I want to capture Janelle’s thoughts and feeling around this special tattoo she got and I thought well why not add it as a blog to Natasha’s website? Here are some pictures that Janelle sent me, and we’ve added a few pictures of Janelle and Natasha over the years. Janelle -Thank you for agreeing to do this post with me! Love, Natasha’s Mom; Saskia
