Man's Best Friend With Him Forever

To tattoo or not tattoo - that was the question. 

In January we had to put our , down after having him for almost 12 years. It broke my husband's heart, and he has had a hard time dealing with it, until recently.

On the news he had heard that super star Jennifer Aniston had a tattoo placed on the inside of her right foot in honor of her dog "Norman,'' which passed away in May. Her dog was 15 years old and was a Welsh Corgi-terrier mix that was always with her, according to people.com. Then in July, while were vacationing in York Beach, Maine, my husband ran into a guy who had a tattoo of his dog on his arm and it was then that my husband, Gino, decided he was going to get a tattoo of Quincy on his arm.

Now I never liked tattoos - they're just really not my cup of tea - but for some reason I decided it was OK for my husband to get one if he wanted. Years ago, tattoos were frowned upon. I remember when my late brother, Bruce, came home at the age of 18 with a small tattoo on his ankle, and my father went crazy! It was like my brother had committed a mortal sin or something....and the tattoo which was only about 1 inch by 1 inch of a rooster (he was a redhead and that was his nickname). It was on the inside of his ankle and just barely visible. I think my father's strong reaction probably guided me away from me getting a tattoo, but I certainly am not against anyone else getting one.

So I remembered this custom tattoo business that was in Ansonia because when I was with the New Haven Register we did a story on them after they did tattoos for the family of a member of the U.S. hockey team that went to the Olympics. We called but discovered they were no longer there. We went online at www.luckysoultatoo.com and found they had recently moved to 214 Amity Road in Woodbridge. We went about two weeks ago and one of the owners, Jim LoPresti, who has been doing tattoos since 1996, came in on his day off (my husband is off on Mondays and the business is open Tuesday through Saturday, but he made an exception and to do my husband's tattoo.) It took a little over two hours for the entire process, and my husband did not report any discomfort.

The tattoo is a beautiful portrait of our dog and was a way for my husband to pay homage to Quincy. "He'll be with me forever,'' my husband said. Amen.