Well, here’s something new! It seems appropriate to start over with a new tattoo and on Garrett’s birthday here at Pocketninja Fitness. Some of you guys may know me or might have read a little about me and my family over at Passing Pinwheels. I really tapered off writing there because it seemed like that blog was for a particular time and stage. I have wanted to write and blog for some time but it simply didn’t feel right to do it on the old blog. So, here we are.

If you don’t know me and have landed here randomly, my name is Sharaze (rhymes with maze) and 6 years ago today, I almost died. Our son Garrett did die, a full term still birth. No one really knew what happened but recently I found a doctor who tested past diabetes and basic thyroid markers and diagnosed me with Mixed Connective Tissue Disease. I’m not sure how much that had to do with it but it seems like a possibility considering the high risk doctor said I probably had an undiagnosed autoimmune disease.

Anyway, one stillbirth, 8 units of someone else’s blood, 2 major surgeries, 2 failed adoptions, and six years later, here we are. I am on year 4 of a career in fitness. I’m still going strong in martial arts. I have a TEN YEAR OLD WHAT THE HECK. I’m back in school for a degree in exercise science.

I also got a new tattoo last Wednesday. Last year I finally got one after years and years and years of talking about it. It was a memorial for Garrett with some nods to our daughter Autumn who is pretty awesome. This time around I got a water dragon. I didn’t really plan on doing it this soon but I really wanted Vanessa to do the work. She’s going to teach in the fall so this was my last absolutely certain chance to work with her.

I’ve wanted a dragon for a long time, probably since high school, but it’s only recently that I decided on what kind of dragon. I definitely wanted watercolor. My first martial arts school was Black Serpent Kung Fu. I also thought it might be fun to have a water tattoo along side my wind one (fire and earth next maybe??). And, well, we all know the Bruce Lee move like water quote, right? Well. The martial arts and martial arts movie nerds do at least, ha! Anyway, after telling Vanessa all that and showing her some pictures I like, including some awesome Haku from Spirited Away tattoos, she made something really fantastic.

This one didn’t hurt quite as much except around the elbow crease where OH MY GOSH IT WAS BAD. In general, recovery has been easy. I taught a weight lifting class the next day and the itching is fairly minimal. We’ll see if the trend continues.

In the meantime, we’ll see if I can keep this blog up. I’m sure you are so excited, right? Right…