For Mother's Day this year, Char wanted a tattoo. She dropped hints about it for months and had friends dropping hints; I pretended to ignore it all because I really wanted to surprise her with something unexpected. In the end, I couldn't think of anything that would surprise her and mean a lot, so I headed to the shop and prepaid for a tattoo.

The surprise was for me, though. She knew exactly what she wanted: a tattoo that would symbolize us. She wanted an ankh to represent the eternal, and a heart to represent love. What she ended up with was not exactly an original concept, but as soon as she saw the sketch of it, she knew that was exactly what she wanted on her for the rest of her life. And she wanted me to get one that matched.

I couldn't say no to that. The gift wasn't the paying for the tattoo, it was in honoring that she wanted something to represent us. So we got the same ink, in places where no one else will ever see.

She loves the tattoo. And in my sleep deprived fog at four o'clock this morning it was suddenly imperative that I make sure her new ink had survived the wreck unscathed. She'll be happy to know that other than some bruising around it, it's fine. Explaining to the night nurse why I was suddenly peeking at a certain body area on my wife was so important was a little awkward.

Today she was a little more vocal. She's still out of it and not speaking, but she's making noise. I hope it's not from the pain, but I still took it as a good sign.

I did go home for a little while today. I was torn about it, but Brad promised he would stay with her until I got back. And it has been pointed out to me multiple times that if I failed to go home and explain to the kids what was happening with their mother I might make them think she was surely going to die, and if that happened she would kick my ass the first chance she got.

They're all holding it together pretty well, thanks to Dack, Theresa, and Brad. No thanks to me as I am painfully aware. I felt all right about coming back to the hospital tonight because Dack and Theresa were taking them to see fireworks and the kids were excited about it. They all want to come see their mother, but I don't think it's a good idea. Once she's awake and can talk to them and looks more like herself I'll bring them over. I think right now it would just upset them more than they already are. They say they understand, but I'm not sure they really do. I know they don't like it.

Neither do I.