Bomby
Legacy Name: Bomby

about bomby!

the very best thing when i was little was going to the produce stand with my mom.
it was a little shack off the state road in the middle of nowhere. they had lots of sugary candies and fruits and my mom would let me pick out whatever i wanted (in moderation!)
i remember the smell of summer, the warm golden rays on my skin, and my mom's presence which smelled like skin musk perfume and tanning lotion.

i struggled a lot when i was a teenager with mental illness and i felt very alone most of the time. a lot of it i did to myself. i pulled away from people who loved me because i did not want to burden them.
i got a tonsillectomy when i was 15. i had never had a surgery before but i wasn't that nervous. on the table, the doctor had the mask in hand and said, "think of something happy"
i panicked.
there weren't a lot of happy things in my life at the time. i scrambled as the mask got closer to my face for something happy to think about before i slept. the image that came to mind was my mom, smiling down at me at the produce stand, the sunlight backlighting her brown hair like an angel's halo.

my mom likes lizards.
she like... really likes lizards. the little stupid ones that do pushups when they're hot in the salty florida sun. yeah, those ones.
she also likes coffee on brisk mornings. when she has a headache, she puts her coffee cup on her cheek to feel the warmth. i don't know when it started, but i do it too. i must have inherited it.

she has a green thumb. i didn't inherit that. i kill everything i touch. my mom can heal a plant barely clinging to life. she can talk to birds. she has her native american roots plunged into the soil and sand and she has inside jokes with the trees and sky.

my mom has a signature i've tried to forge many many times on my report cards from school.
well, she has two signatures actually. the signatures she puts on field trip forms, and the signature she writes to her kids.
instead of singing her name on notes she left us before she went to school, she'd doodle these goofy little bug creatures called "love bugs." the love bugs are her way of telling us that she loved us. they became a running legend in my family. these lovebugs are mystical and carry the power of a mother's love. they are the only creature powerful enough to do that.
i tricked my mom.
since she lives in the south and i live in the north, i asked her to draw me some lovebugs and send me a picture of them. "i just miss them," i texted her. "just want to see them again."
the lovebugs were as pure as ever. i scanned them in, traced them, and took them to a tattoo parlor to get them on my arm to cover up an old scar on my arm. i covered up my scar with the only creature powerful enough to heal my pain. they are tattooed on the outside of my arm, so whenever i give someone a hug, the lovebug will touch them, and heal them too.

my mom is crazy.
i think if there were to be any human person who would fight god, it would be her. i'm sure she's scared of some things, but i couldn't tell you what they would be. she has never shown fear in front of me.

she is fierce, unmoving, stubborn, and bullheaded. but more than that, she is tender, loving, protective, and intelligent.
my mom is razor sharp in thought and tongue, quick on her feet, quick to love, quick to trust, quick to risk her life for her kids. when i have a problem, i call her. when i am sad, i call her. when i am happy, i call her. when i just wanna hear the sparkle in my best friend's voice, i call her. my mom is incredible.

i love you bomby.

art & misc