Buiochas

It makes you feel a little better.

That was a picture perfect Florida day. Tim and I were excitedly in love and on vacation, exploring the gulf shore. And I had an idea.

Matching tattoos.

I love ink. I didn’t start until I was 50 and all of mine are special to me. But Tim was a tattoo virgin. We always said how grateful we were for having met. Also, Tim was Irish. I found the Old Irish word for gratitude and we got it inked in the same place on the same arm.

Buiochas, pronounced bwee’-kus, is from the Old Irish buīdechus‎ and it means thanks or gratitude. He loved it and so do I.

Gratitude is good for us. When things are bad, (like right now in America) redirect your thinking about the good stuff. Even the most basic things… like comfortable shoes, ice cold beer, indoor plumbing, clean sheets are worth feeling thankful for.

I learned writing this essay that gratitude is healthy for you! “Gratitude has been found to be beneficially associated with social wellbeing, emotional wellbeing, and psychological wellbeing (Jans-Beken et al., 2020). … gratitude is an important “predictor of wellbeing and other desirable life outcomes” (Portocarrero et al., 2020, p. 6).”

Instead of dwelling on the things I can’t control, I focus on what I CAN control. Like Philadelphia traffic. 😂 I just turn up the music on I95 and let other people rage on.

My friend’s mom is 94 years old and tells us to keep everything in perspective. It could always be worse. “It’s not a heart and it’s not a liver, she says… you’ll be fine.”

Tim and I had three good years. He was a super smart and a successful video editor. He played guitar, was a voracious reader, rode bikes, always held my hand, and, at like all good Irishmen, stubborn at times. But he never had a colonoscopy and died of colon cancer. He was only 59.

Buiochas is a constant reminder on my right arm… for the love I lost but how grateful I am to have had him in my life.

Now. Schedule your colonoscopy, please.