"On the day Hurricane Katrina made her presence known in our area, I found myself in a Hardee’s Restaurant in Jefferson, Ohio. I was between appointments and had time to kill so I stopped for a cup of coffee. Due to the cooler temperatures and severe rain, I found myself alone in the entire dining room, most people preferring to remain indoors for the day. I had been there for almost an hour when two women and a young child entered. I immediately concluded that this was one family unit (mother, daughter, and grandson), which was confirmed later. Despite having the entire restaurant to choose from, they settled on the table adjacent mine, the two women sitting furthest from me with four-year-old Tony sitting less than three feet from me. Beautiful blonde hared little Tony did not want to eat his cinnamon biscuit or drink his milk that morning, and I could not help but smile as his young mother tried in vain to convenience little Tony to remain seated and eat his breakfast that he insisted she buy.
Tony’s mom, Amelia Rose, apologized to me for Tony’s behavior and once again chastised Tony to leave the nice man alone. I told her that he was fine and was no bother; after all, I had two daughters of my own.
Naturally conversation immersed amongst us, about the weather and the rising price of gasoline in the area, and as listened to Amelia Rose in her light blue tank top and her mother Betty (short for Elizabeth Rose) I couldn’t help but notice the prominently displayed tattoo on Amelia’s right bicep. There encircling her arm was barbed wire. In the center, lay a small grouping of five roses measuring no longer than three inches. As Ilearned more about the women and Tony, my curiosity got the best of me and I asked Amelia about her tattoo. I wanted to know if it had any meaning behind it and why she placed it on her arm. To my surprised, she answered my questions and more.
Amelia’s father had a tattoo of barbed wire encircling his right bicep. Naturally, Amelia loved her father and as a young child, she loved how he could make it move by flexing his muscle. She fondly recalled sitting is his massive arms tracing the tattoo with her fingers for hours on end.
At age sixteen, Amelia got pregnant with Tony, which strained her relationship with her father to the point that stopped speaking. They went their separate ways, with her father vowing to have nothing to do with her or his grandson. A year later her father suffered a massive heart attacked and the two reconciled shortly before his death. His death brought mother and daughter back together, and the two comforted each other in their grief. As a tribute to her father, Amelia decided to have the barbed wire tattooed on her arm. The roses were added because she was the fifth generation to be named Rose after her great, great-grandmother. She even convinced her mom to get the same tattoo, minus one rose. Now, five years later, Amelia Rose, sports a total of five tattoos -- all roses. Each year on the anniversary of her father’s death, she has added a single rose, measuring the size of a nickel. They now adorn her left shoulder, her outside left ankle, her right hip, and her inside right calf. I asked her if she was continuing the tradition this year and adding another and where it might be. She said yes, but she would not reveal the location, she only said that it would rarely be seen by anyone but herself."
