Man gets tattoo of late mom's handwritten diary entry from the day he was born
A man honored his late mom by getting a tattoo from her handwritten diary she gifted him that featured an entry from the day he was born.
Jake Bley was 24 years old when his mom, Nikki Bley, died after battling leukemia.
Jake Bley told "Good Morning America," when his mom died, she had left him and his brothers "a box of things each."
He shared that he only recently decided to collect the box and bring it back to his home 10 years after his mom's death.
"I've allowed myself to process a lot of what happened," he said.
In the box, Jake Bley shared his mom had left him about 20 of her handwritten diaries including one from the year when he was born.
"I haven't really gone through all the diaries in great detail yet, but I did flip to the page where I was born, and in there, some of her notes…it says, 'Only a little fellow,'" he explained. "She was a very sentimental person…And I think she left them to me for a reason. She wanted me to find things just like this."
Jake Bley said he had planned months prior to take some time off work on the day of the anniversary of his mom's death.
"I took the day off, and I knew exactly what I was going to do," he recalled. "I was going to get a tattoo of what was written in my mother's diary, because I thought that was her first thought of me, and she wrote that down, and this was a gift that she left me."
Jake Bley documented his journey of getting the tattoo and shared his story on his social media platforms.
Alongside the photos of the diary entry and his tattoo, he wrote on X, formally known as Twitter, on June 26, "Today marks 10 years since my mother passed away from leukemia."
"As a parting gift she gave each of her children a present," he continued. "Mine was her diaries, hand written since she was a little girl. This is what she wrote the night I was born. It's now my first tattoo."
To date, the post has reached over 7 million views and accumulated hundreds and thousands of likes.
"The response was overwhelming in a positive way," he said. "I had so many people reach out to me, speaking about their own experiences with grief."
Jake Bley said opening up to others about his experience with loss has become part of his healing process.
"You understand that this is a common feeling that a lot of people have that you can only really connect with people if they've gone through something similar," he said.
He told "GMA" if his mom was still alive, she would have been proud of him for using his voice to help others.
"She's like me. She's the yapper. She loves to chat and, and I really think she would be proud of me, not only my personal achievements, but just how much I've grown as a person and, just helping people the best way that I can," he said.
Jake Bley also shared the best piece of advice he had received from his mom which is to be kind.
"She was a very empathetic person. She felt a lot," he shared. "There's things that she said to me when she was alive, about there is a difference between being kind and being nice. Being nice there's pagentries, being kind is deeper."
He continued, "You can say something to someone that they may not like hearing, but you're being kind. It's a lot more about intent. Kindness goes a lot further, kindness builds trust. And I trusted her wholeheartedly."
