September 20, 2005
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An entry inspired by Creative_Writing_Challenge:
Tattoooooooooo
I have thought of getting a tattoo off and on over the past several years. The problem is that I can’t think of anything that will age well with me. I’m 43 years old right now and I keep thinking about what my tattoo as a 65 year-old great granny is going to look like. When you’re young and all of your skin is nice and tight, you don’t think about your design warping and changing but having seen the effects of age on skin, I know that gravity happens.
I think about the patients I’ve had as a Doula (labor and delivery coach); young moms who come in with misshapen sun tattooed around their navel and jewelry stud popping out lopsided from their distended bellybutton. Not too sexy. I don’t tell them that sometimes skin doesn’t go back into place exactly where it started from. No worries about me tattooing my belly. I’d like to forget that I have one. Why in the hell would I want to call attention to it?
I have considered a band around my arm in a celtic or tribal design but then I have visions of little parts of it sagging like a charm bracelet. I would have to commit myself to working out regularly for the rest of my life so my design stays in place. Getting a tattoo would come with a decision not only to wear a design from here on out but to work my butt off to look good. I don’t know if I’m that interested. Think I’ll just use henna when I get the urge to decorate myself. That way, if I feel like writing, “superbitch” on myself, I won’t have to live with it at 70.
Comments (17)
that is why I put mine on my shoulderblade… less chance of sagging LOL – I did almost by a henna kit… but I don’t have the time right now… they are lovely though
I have a tattoo (lower back) and I totally see your point ~ in fact, a lot of people ask me why I would do it, knowing that it’ll be nothing more than a colourful blob someday…thing is, as I age my skin is going to sag and wrinkle and get liverspots on it anyway, I may as well enjoy it and make it beautiful (to me). Someday my grandkids will say “Granny, what’s the blue blob on your skin?” and I’ll tell them all about my beautiful tattoo and show them pics and talk about what it meant to me
Interesting and funny post! I have never had the thought or desire to have a tattoo. I have seen many though on many people on all parts of the body well maybe not ALL parts of the body but pretty close. Some are nice but you are right the old tattoos do change with the body part and the skin. One old man looked like some one had hammered his arm and legs they looked all bruised and discolored.
My son who is 17 will be 18 in November has talked about it. He wants a band or something around his beautiful bicep. I told hime all the pros and cons but he is not really listening. What can I do Oh well! It s his life and he will have to live with it.
k
ROTFL! You made me actually LOL!
You have exactly the same hang up as me. I have the same hang up with gadges in the ears etc. How attractive… I think when I am old I will care less about part of my appearance, but I don’t wanna be purposefully adding to the list that I will be self concious over, ya know? Funny stuff, Ms. BS, LOL!!!! Oh my! 
Oh, I meant to tell you when I was in high school (and nobody had a real tat and we had not yet heard of henna) we’d draw tats with El Markos… we really got creative once and used colored markers ~ woo hoo!
if you think about it carefully you can plan a location and size and shape that will age with grace. (besides i bet they can always touch them up later, right?)
i’d like to do it but no one else around me wants it… should i?
Heck put it some place where you can’t see it and you can cover it with ease. Use a symbol or sunset or moon, something simple but meaningful to you.
I have one on my ankle (blue butterfly with scrolling) and one on my lower back (purple butterflies with vines). Both are bigger than I intended when I first went to get them. Originally said I’d NEVER get one. Well I got the one on my ankle shortly after my divorce to symbolize my new life and freedom from controlling ex. Be careful, they are addictive. I got the second one a year after the first. Now 3 years later I’m thinking maybe one more.
If I were to get a tattoo I would get the face of an older actor or tv personality such as Burt Reynolds or Larry King or Barbara Walters. That way, when I get all saggy and jacked up from old age, they’ll look like they get older and saggier, too…and then you can tell people it’s a *magic* tattoo. A tattoo that magically updates itself as the actor/tv personality gets older. I bet it could even make you famous. I can totally see being on The View, talking to Star Jones about my magic tattoo.
RYC: Thanks for stopping by. I don’t think I’m that funny. I think my funniness is 80% idiocy and 20% sluttiness. Don’t be a stranger now!
RYC: I totally, agree, with you about the problem of triangles (I call that waste that is worth it!) FYI, there is a GREAT book called Triangle Tricks that has several tips about sewing squares/rectangals into triangles, but this particular pattern was not my plan (but someone elses.) The saving grace was that the fabric has not been laundered so it was not as stretchy. I was pleased because I only had one triangle edge that went south.
I’m so glad to hear from you! I only had your other site & you haven’t been writing there lately. I was worried about you & Jim! Of COURSE you can borrow the book! Are you coming to the gourd event in Folsom this year? That would save postage (unless it’s all over by now). I’ll e-mail you my address anyway. So GLAD to see you back!
LOL! Interesting post. Good luck on choosing your’s. One day I would like to get one, somewhere! Want to have my left nostril re-pierced too, with a MUCH smaller ‘earring.’
ryc: No, I didn’t take the picture, it was something I think I found in Google Images. Thanks!
Um yeah. You know what my vote is. JUST DO IT ALREADY!!!!!!
I totally agree with you about th ebelly button tatoos. Why ?? Piercing there too has never appealed to me. Even when I was skinny. Jim’s step-mom hates tattoos and piercings but she told me I should make it a promise to get a belly button ring so that I would have something to motivate me to lose some weight. OUCH. No really. OUCH.
Anyways, I hate to sound like a Nihilist (that must be exausting) but life is too short for the “yeah but when I am 80…” Blah blah blah. Worry about the now. And now I love my tats. They are apart of me and who I am. A constant reminder of who I want to continue to be.
Love you mom,
Sarah
Oh yeah, but you have to wait to get it with me
Robin and erin too. It can be a moved to Idaho celebration tattoo. Mark of a new start and life.
miss you
I contemplated tattoos for decades. Never did it. Not sorry.
never thought of the gravity drag before…….
I have thought about getting a tatoo for years. But tatoos are symbols and I could not decide on a symbol that was ‘me’. I think I might be 60 by the time I know who me is and therefore what tatoo to get!