Not Grumpy

 When my mother-in-law passed, I got the flower bouquet tattoo.  I love it still and had planned all along to get a mate to it when my father-in-law passed.

But I couldn't decide on a good image.  He has a nickname that is one of the Seven Dwarves.  So that seems simple and obvious.  Except I just didn't like it.  It felt too "drunk eighteen-year-old girl in Vegas getting her first tattoo"

So I kind of put it out into the universe and waited.  Finally, Kevin mentioned while we were out to dinner "Why don't you get the sign they had in their house?"

First off, know that he said that with ZERO CONTEXT so I was very confused mid-bite of my seafood fetucini. Because there are two signs he referred On Our Wall and another one outside.  Then he clarified and said "As a tattoo. You like that saying and you said we gave them that sign"

"All because two people fell in love..."

Well, that's a great idea! I loved it immediately.  A few days later I searched for dragonfly line art and found one that I liked.  I made a picture incorporating the saying and the dragonflies then emailed it to the tattoo artist as a suggestion of what I wanted.

When I got my first tattoos, it was almost a two month wait.  This time it was less than a week. Whew, no backing out now.  (I could but, still)

I wanted it on my inner bicep.  The tattoo artist gently guided me to another idea because that skin is tender and soft.  The artwork would look distorted, especially as we age.  She suggested another area on my arm and I wasn't as excited about it but went with it anyway.  She also suggest that it be a little larger than the size I actually chose and she was RIGHT.   Listen to your artist, they know things.

It didn't hurt badly, about the same as the ones on my forearms.  The healing time went really quickly and I'm overall happy with it. Is it my favorite? No.  Do I wish it was a little different? Yes.

But, I can - and maybe will - add to it. The artist is the kind of person that I could say "Hey, can we change this a little" and she would be happy to do so.  But I do love that when I look down at my arm, I see a dragonfly.  It has little mid-century modern stars sprinkled around so maybe add some more of those somehow.

While chatting during the work, because I ask questions endlessly in order to distract myself, she wondered if I would consider having the bouquet colored in.  I said no because I like the line art and she was disappointed.  She even jokingly said "It's the height of white privilege; you have the whitest skin and it would look so good!"  Maybe someday but probably not.

She also mentioned that I had gotten three tribute tattoos and that I should really get something just for myself.  I admit that this has occurred to me but I haven't found The One.  I asked her about the most common ones then it sequed into two directions:

The use of Asian alphabet and symbols and how often they are wrong.  So much so that she refuses to do them.  She told a story about trying to convince a girl to not have a specific character because it was wrong (thanks to the internet) but the girl had it done anyway. (not by her)

I mentioned that Kevin made the joke that the Doctor Who tattoo in honor of our 30th anniversary "could be for anyone, my name isn't anywhere."  I explained to the artist that I'm GenX and how having his name on me would just feel like branding.  (as in cattle, not as in influencers)

She said that when people get their significant others names tattooed, it's practically guaranteed that they will break up.  So much so that it's tattoo artist lore and most artists will try to convince clients Not To.

Also, she mentioned that she got through the whole Live Laugh Love trend without one of those tattoos on her own body.  I made the joke of Live Laugh Toaster Bath and she laughed at that idea.  She said "We can design it subtle" and I laughed in response "If I were to do that, I wouldn't Want it subtle"  I would probably never but it's tempting.

I realized also that my mother died without seeing my tattoos.  It's a relief because she would have been annoyed.  She was angry when one of my nieces got a tattoo with her friends when she was an adult.  The girls even agreed that she would have been mad.

So, now I'm pondering.  I've become the older lady who gets tattoos, I think.  

Just above my elbow, on the bicep
And wow can you tell my English/Irish/Scottish heritage