Double Dog Dare

This won't be a story about Krazy. This one's about me. It doesn't define who I am, but it does make me, well, me.

I have a bone disease. Fibrosis Dysplasia. Don't try and look it up. This disease isn't necessarily a disease, but it's the best my Doc could label it as. It's a mix of two different conditions. My femurs (thigh bones guys), wrists, and elbows are weak. The bones aren't solid like they should be and are very easily broke. My wrists and elbows aren't a concern. The problem was my femurs. My left femur was very bowed in 2 ways: it bowed up, and out. My right femur (if I understand correctly) had the bigger area that was "thin."

I was diagnosed when I was 3 years old. I had tried to crawl out of my crib and gotten my foot stuck, and broke my ankle (foot? hell, I don't know). When my young mom took me to the hospital, she was incredibly lucky and the doctor had known who to refer me to. He had seen 1 other case before and knew of the best doc on this side of the country. His name is Dr. Ernest "Chappie" Conrad. We would become very close the next 15years. I had a biopsy when I was about 3yrs old; a stainless steel rod in right femur in 2nd grade; titanium rods, pins, and screws in left femur 3days after I turned 13yo; and then replaced my stainless steel to put in the titanium rod in my right femur when I was 16yo.
I could go into more details but I don't want to. I'm not ashamed, or trying to hide it. I'm just too damn excited for whats next.

Again, I was never shy or ashamed of my scars. To be honest, I forgot most of the time that I had them, even during summer. Once I had gotten old enough to fully embrace God's Gifts, I made a fun game with myself. I know when someone looks at my scars (when I'm not looking other way) and then I love to see who will actually ask me about them. I am truly estatic when someone asks. I know they had enough balls to approach a (more often than not) perfect stranger and ask what happened. But when I'm with friends or family, people tend to ask them. Yeah, it's fine and probably more "polite" but thats not how my game plays.

That brings us to now. About 3wks ago, I had an idea and before I lost my own cajones, I put it in motion. Instead of waiting for someone to see my scars and wonder if they should ask, I figured I should help them decide:

What this picture doesn't show, is my 2nd grade scar and 16yo scar (they were overlapped).
I got a tattoo (thank you Matt Brown for your patience!) that says "Dare to Ask"

I want people to ask. I'd love to tell them. Even if they don't, I still got a badass tattoo under my gnarliest of scars.

Before:

During:

So that's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

Thank you to Matt Brown at Parkway Tattoo!