I have always been a great lover of animals. When I was a child growing up in Ireland, I lived in the countryside, where I was surrounded by farm animals. My family didn't have a farm, but quite a few of our neighbours did. Our house backed onto field, that was full of Diary Cows. As a child I loved to walk in the field with them. They would be waiting for me, when I returned from school, with their heads resting on our back wall.
I would get home from school, drop my bag inside and then go jump the wall, so that I could greet my friends properly. I would walk the field with them, then find a spot and sit down. Where they would then surround me. I loved to sit there and look up at their faces, looking down at me. I never once felt sacred of them. My mum said that she only ever had to look for the cows, to know where I was. Two years ago, I asked my middle daughter if she could draw me a cow at that angle, where it is looking down at something.
A few weeks ago, she presented me with the drawing that you can see up above, which as you can imagine, I was delighted with. I stopped eating meat when I turned 14, which was over 32 years ago now. The relationship I had with those cows, was the main reason why I did. How could I justify eating animals that I had bonded with, that I had formed a relationship with. Animals that were my friends. That were just as playful and curious as the dogs that had come into my life.
I had my daughters drawing, tattooed on the inside of my upper arm, so that when I hold up my arm, I have the face of the cow looking down at me. Remaining me of those magical moments in my childhood, when I found such solace n the fields with the cows. Which led me to question the way that animals are treated and where our food really comes from. It was quite an enlightening time for me. On top of that, I now have a beautiful drawing from my daughter inked on my skin.
