Tattoos

Strangely enough, I've been thinking about getting my first tattoo.

I probably would have never thought of it if not for my daughters. Both of my girls have multiple tattoos, including large ones on their backs.

When my youngest daughter got her first tattoo, I assumed that it was because my older daughter had some and she was just following in her sister's footsteps. Eventually, it didn't really matter. In fact, I'm not sure that either of them are finished.

The good thing is that they both went to good artists, so the tattoos are good quality. My older daughter had a few small ones on her back that were marginal, but later had them overlaid by a larger one.

If I got a tattoo, it would be one of my family. My wife and two girls. And therein lies the problem, I guess. When my daughters got theirs, they were copied from something. My older daughter probably got something that was in the artist's studio. (Do they have them hanging on the walls or in a book? I'm not sure.) My youngest daughter had a design picked out and took it to the artist. They came out very well, but if they didn't match the design exactly, no one would notice.

However, if you're getting pictures of people tattooed on you, you want it to look like the people in the picture. Pretty much exactly.

My experience with tattooing is such that I only know one person that I would trust to do that tattoo on me: Kat from LA Ink. I think all of the people on that show are great artists, but Kat, the shop's owner, is probably the best when it comes to tattooing images of people. Unfortunately, I'll probably be in a nursing home before I could get an appointment with her. And, also unfortunately, I live on the wrong coast.

Would I do it if I could. Probably. I've been doing a lot of new things since I retired. Skiing when I go to visit my cousin in New Hampshire, joining the NRA and travelling to the last two conventions, transferring my old videocassetts to DVD and my old albums to CD's, going with my wife on our first cruise, and target shooting.

Why would I do it? I'm not really sure. Mostly, it's probably because I love my family. I wouldn't consider getting anything else tattooed on me. At least not the first tattoo. A little is because it's something new. I figure I have at least 10 more years before I get too old to do some of the things I didn't do when I was younger. Maybe more if I'm lucky, but I can't count on it. Do you think I could get an appointment anytime in the next ten years?

Maybe I'm lucky I live on the wrong coast.

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All of us have schnozzles ... if not in our faces, then in our character, minds or habits. When we admit our schnozzles instead of defending them, we begin to laugh and the world laughs with us. - Jimmy Durante