<Cross Post from WUS for BSHMoT!> Happy New Year to all my BSH Brothers and your loved ones! To mark our crossing the threshold from 2020 into 2021, I did something I've been wanting to do for a long time now. On New Year's Eve 2020, washed up and masked up in a clean shop, I finally got my BSH Tattoo.
Here was a pre-ink beer with Mrs. Fullers on the steps of a movie theater with hardly anybody around.
The most appropriate watch I have for the occasion. My NTH BSH Carolina 26/50.
The art being made.
And completed.
Black, red, and gold are traditional sailor tatt colors. (Sailor Jerry pic borrowed from the web.)
And, as it happens, they also match the colors of the lovely NTH Carolina. (Pic with CNS strap borrowed from brother Jay Firecrow911.)
All in all, this ink is for me a symbol of love and brotherhood with people from all over the world of different backgrounds, ethnicities, religions, philosophies, political persuasions, and orientations of every kind. A group of people drawn by a love for an iconic dive watch that points to a much deeper and more universal love we all share. We are here with and for each other no matter what.
Back on July 28, 2009 when I started the "Best Submariner Homage?" thread on WUS--just because I like the Submariner and wanted to find the best one I could afford--I had no idea how the people drawn to this corner of the web would become one of my most supportive communities in the world. More than any work team, school group, or church of which I've been a part--and sometimes even more than my own extended family--I trust that you Brothers of the BSH are here for me through the joys and sorrows of life. And I am here with you.
When I get quiet and still enough I notice an emptiness in the middle of my awareness. Over my 45 years, I have tried to escape that emptiness, distract myself from it, or at least try and fill with all kinds of things like "sex, drugs, rock and roll"; watches; philosophies; and also gods. I'm finding it is also ok just to sit with it and let it be. To breathe in and out and recognize that everything changes. And we are all connected. If we've learned nothing else in this COVID-19 year, we've learned that. The BSH is a sacrament of that connection for me. I'm glad to be here with you Brothers.
May you all experience freedom from suffering in the coming year.
Peace be with you all,
James