Philadelphia Tattoo Convention 2019
It's a little late but, better late than never! About 2 weeks ago was the Philly Tattoo Convention. A show we haven't missed in about 8 years. Why? Because we love the city, the people and the show is always filled with love for us and our brand.
As usual, we arrive in the freezing cold pouring rain to unload our truck full of gear and equipment. Get everything in our booth, run back to park the truck at the hotel, check into the hotel, throw everything in the room, and try to be back at the convention center...all in a matter of 30 minutes. I'm sweating now!
Back at the booth where I left my husband, he's got everything under control and we've got about another hour of setting our pop up shop space for the weekend's chaos. Finally done, the doors open and a flood of people come in ready to get inked and buy things they rarely see.
The convention center is buzzing with tattoo machines and people chatting away, all different music playing from different artists booths when up runs a woman, who grabs a hold of my husband and gives him the biggest hug. She's full of smiles and happy! She announces to us that from last year when he met her, she's now happily engaged and introduces us to her fiancé!
Mind you, this woman, last year when my husband met her was suicidal. After speaking with him for a while, she began to think and changed her perspective on life and the issues she was dealing with. She was overly thankful and so was her new fiancée. Without speaking to my husband, and helping her change her mindset, he would have never met the love of his life
Another feelgood story from Philly; the beer guy...we've seen him just about every year that I can remember, we've bought beer from him every year, given him some swag and have chatted with him quite a lot. This year, he was walking by with his beer cart, and said, "I just wanted you guys to know, my wife is 600 days sober because of you."
Randomly, another girl, walked by our booth, she didn't stop, yet as she passed by, she said "I'm alive today because of you guys and one of your hats. You saved my life." And she kept on walking smiling, holding her loved one's hand. I wish I was able to talk to her or grab a photo, but she seemed content and happy, and our booth was busy, so, I just let her be. Perhaps she didn't want to rehash whatever her issues were, but simply wanted to let us know. For that, I'm grateful
Why do we do what we do? The answer is easy and simple...we are literally saving lives. Even if we just affect 1 person throughout an entire weekend convention, that's 1 more life saved and touched by us. I think it's a pretty good reason, don't you?
So, in closing, thank you, Philly, for always showing us the love you do! We will see you next year and hopefully we will have even more stories to tell!
Regards,
Kristen
