The Making of Tattoos & Pearls

There are some whispers in life that just keep asking you to listen, to give it attention and to give it meaning.

The combination of my creativity with artistic outlets has always been the way I best express myself. I have always been a proponent of being oneself, to staying true and honest to ourselves and to be you no matter what. I lost myself once and it wasn't going to happen to me anymore.

Being a creative has always been a part of my life. I loved to write poetry, make up my own lyrics to music, and record myself on a cassette in the 80s & early 90s. I loved my English classes, especially when essays were due because I loved to hear how my story impacted the reader. There was one English teacher who loved a piece I wrote on Selfishness because I wrote that being selfish is not a bad way to live your life. My perspective was unlike the rest of the group who wrote being selfish was a bad thing. Given my personal experience, I had to be selfish if I wanted to be happy so that's what I wrote about. Another time I learned I was good writer was when my university professor was touched by my romantic walk in the park. I didn't think much of it, but he and the others in the classroom loved it also. I can vividly remember these moments and my impact through my writing. Writing was my way of sharing my most intimate moments and my most intimate thoughts. It became an outlet to express my feelings and journey.

As an adult, life began life-ing and so I stopped connecting pen to paper, but there comes a time, when you have abandoned yourself and there is no other thing to do but to return to you. Throughout the pandemic and some external factors, I began to reevaluate my life. On a messed up day on my way home from work, I returned to my writing journey. I had no where else to share my feelings and thoughts, so I opened my Apple Notes app to write my feelings down while the tears were flowing like a river through my face on every crevice and wrinkle downstream out of my heart and head.

Like divine intervention would have it, I received the last call email to submit my story to be a part of an anthology series, Leaving a Legacy & Inspiring the Next Generation that also came with being part of the Latinas 100 prestigious community. I shrugged my shoulders in relief and knew exactly what to submit. Before I knew it, just like that, my story was included and I was accepted into this exclusive community. This was the start of my authorship journey exactly one year ago. There was a reason why I became so upset, began looking for an outlet and that moment happened for me because it was supposed to bring me back to my writing, back to me.

After being included in the anthology series, the expedition to Tattoos & Pearls began.

To think I've had this title sitting in my memory bank for over a decade when I was sharing my life experiences through conversations where their responses were maybe you should write a book. Writing a book has always been in my plans, I just didn't think it would happen. Maybe I had just let that dream feel too big so I never went after it. Now, I can't see how this book doesn't make it onto the shelves, into your hands and not touch your heart and souls .

We all experience hard times, small t and big t traumas to a different degree that mark us for life but in many households some people just don't like to share them, acknowledge they exist and much less deal with them. I think in this day and age of division, we can all come together in our collective hurt to heal & learn from each other and more importantly heal ourselves. We are different but there is so much that binds us together too. The problem is that hurt people hurt people and you know what? I was guilty of it too, so I decided I had it up to here. I decided that my journey forward was going to be a healed self who would truly love and be worthy of happiness for myself, those I love and those I don't know yet. Through my experiences, people who would normally go through these hurtful experiences would not be alone anymore. Our invisible pain would no longer sit in dark spaces and that we would find a way to move forward as we are, showing up as who we are, filled with full life experiences & emotions where ever we are. Combining our authenticity and strength will take us forward regardless of what we have been through with love, compassion and respect for who we are today.

And with that Tattoos & Pearls was born.