Your Questions Answered Part V: Tattoos, El Uno, Embarassment & Books

I hope you all had an amazing weekend.  I shot a wedding in Downeast Maine for two lovely ladies and ended up with around 1500 images I'll need to parse out.  

I'm continuing the question-answering thing this week because I have received so many great questions!

These questions come from Melissa and Mikelle.

1. What is your favorite of your tattoos and why?

This is a tough question because usually my current favorite is my most recent.  But when I consider it, I think that my half-sleeve is probably my most favorite.  It is the tattoo that took the most work, planning, hours, and pain, so I have quite a fondness for it.  Plus the meaning is something that will always hold great significance to me.  I seriously swell with pride every time I look at it.

2. How did you know Rob was *the one* and worth waiting for and fighting for throughout everything you guys went through?

I hope it does not sound cliche when I say that I knew that Rob was the one from the second we confessed our feelings for each other.  We were only 16 and 17, but I knew in the core of my being that what I felt for him was different.  I told him I loved him the day we found out we loved each other, after only being friends for two months (and while I dated his best friend, whoops!).  I would be lying if I said that I didn't have doubts, particularly early in our relationship, but I always found my way emotionally back to him.  I'm proud to say, though, that we've never had a period of separation, because any doubts I had could so easily be resolved the second I discussed it with him.  Once he left for the Army I remember the certainty settling so definitively in the core of my being that the thought of ever doubting the connection we had seemed unthinkable.

3. What are your pet peeves?

Off the top of my head: disrespect, people with no sense of humor, playing the martyr or victim, slow drivers, lack of blinker usage while driving, and parking in cities. 

4. What is your most embarassing moment?

One of the problems with having such deep-seeded insecurities is that I have a propensity toward dwelling on embarassing things I did years ago as though they just happened and beating myself up for them.  The moment that I do this most frequently with is probably me and Rob's first kiss.

My dad was driving and Rob and I were sitting in the back seat together (like you do).  I had my head resting on his shoulder and looked up at him.  He looked down and our lips connected for the first time.  It was amazing; without exaggeration, time felt like it slowed down and we were the only two people in the whole world.  Unfortunately, we weren't, and my dad saw us in the rear-view mirror and yelled, "Caitlin! Keep your eyes on the road, okay?!"  I had totally not meant for it to happen, but it did, and I burst into tears and cried the whole way home.  I still turn red when I think about it (or write about it, incidentally).

5. What is the most influential book you've read?

I would have to say "Skinny Legs and All" by Tom Robbins.  I read it as a 14-year-old (and many times since then) and it continues to totally astound me.  If you aren't familiar with Tom Robbins, he's an author based out of Washington who writes primarily satire and fantasy pertaining to organized religion and the role it has historically played on women and how women are/have been viewed in society.  It was the first book that ever actually made me stop and re-read passages over and over again.