Be good, but not too good

My daughter is a little perfectionist, and every day before I would drop her off at preschool, I would tell her to be good, but not too good. You know, loosen up and mess up a little bit. It’s okay. Now every day when she goes to school, she’s a preteen now, I tell her, be good, and she says, but not too good, like that.

Then I expanded on it with the fox and the tortoise, just to make it a little family tattoo. 
That’s my whole family.

This is a dogwood branch. Dogwoods are my favorite trees, they represent rebirth and renewal, and I got this after I got an autism diagnosis to sort of remind myself that there is beauty and strength in starting over, and always evolving, and not, you know, trying to stay who you always were.