This post is a little off topic of what my blog is about, but I need a release. This week it was announced that I was accepted into the Emeril’s #SeriousSandwich cookalong. That made my day and I was all excited for the past couple days. The excitement of it still lingers, but I got some bad news last night. Mark A Miller of Elkhart, Indiana was one of my tattooists, best friend, room mate,boss and drinking and drugging buddies. I met Mark one year at the Indianapolis 500. We got to talking about tattoos. He claimed he was an artist and he did some of the work on himself. To be honest it was not that good, but you have to remember he had to do it one handed at times. Not easy. I told him I wanted to get my head tattooed and he freaked. He wanted the chance to do it. We partied all weekend and made plans for me to move from Ohio to Indiana. He came from Elkhart, Indiana to North Ridgeville, Ohio to pick me up and move in with him. I dropped everything and went with just my cloths. I lived with him on and off for 5 years and he did alot of work on me when he got bored. All I will say is we left on sort of bad terms about 7 years ago. Mark cleaned up his life, got married and had a couple kids, opened his own tattoo parlor after years of doing it illegally out of his own house. He became someone who did things for the community and needy.
Friday night I got word that Mark Miller was murdered. His body was found, after being reported missing on the 7th, stuffed in a 55 gallon drum and floating down the St Joe river in Elkhart, Indiana. I can only assume what did happen, and I am probably right. Its a damn shame that after he turned his life around, and truly starts living his life… He is murdered. What he showed me it can be done. So I have decided to finish my head tattoo, have a memorial tattoo fill in the last open space and have it entered in some contests like he and I had talked about doing so many times.
Mark, even though we left each other on not so good terms, the memories remain the same and you will be missed.
RIP
Good blog, always good to learn something new about your son. A sad experience, but one that needed telling. Thanks for sharing.
sorry about your friend. i hope you find peace over this….