ANYWAYS, so my tattoo. I had actually wanted to get one for a while (my reoccurring saying), but with my fear of needles and minimum wage budget I kept looking for excuses not to. I didn't want anything silly or insignificant on my body, in fact, I wanted my dad's signature; a man I keep very close to my heart. Oh, my dad; the artist, the history buff, the fried chicken maker. I really have no clue where to start with him. Unfortunately, he passed away last July, just about a year ago. It was cancer, and a very severe and heartbreaking illness to watch at that. I will probably go into further detail about him in the future, because he deserves the recognition. So, I decided to take the initials he used to sign most of his paintings at the bottom right corner as a tattoo idea. The idea was tossed back and forth for just about as long as he's been gone. Finally, I grew the courage to put it into action. Because i'm of age, it was no problem going to get it done. I went with my boyfriend, Kyle, who I actually do most things with nowadays. Because it was a small tattoo, basically just line work, I thought i'd be able to show up and have it done right there. We drove to a tattoo place a couple of towns over from me and was told that I would have to come back at 8:30pm. I instantly said that it was fine just because I wanted it so damn bad. The clock currently read around 4:30; oh the anticipation!!!!
So, we show up to the tattoo place around 8ish and I was so, SO nervous. I tried to act cool and calm, and tried to play it off as if this wasn't my first tattoo. Kyle is such a saint, dealing with all of the nervousness and anxiety that comes to me sometimes. He usually helps me get out of it by laughing it off. We still had some time to waste before I got called in, so being us, we went to the new-ish record store next door. We were instantly greeted by a medium sized black dog and some really cool ladies who I could just tell were great friends. We walked around for a bit. It really was an awesome place. My eyes instantly latched onto a Beatles record. The Magical Mystery Tour, an album I started to first love when I heard it on my moms ipod nano way back in like 2009 or something. My dad really, really loved The Beatles. Him and my mom are where I got most of my music taste from, so I took it as a sign that maybe, just maybe he was with me. I dodged for the album and just stared at it in awe. Kyle bursted my bubble when he pointed out the $75 sticker on it. The owner, i'm guessing, ran up to us and was so beyond friendly. She could definitely tell I wanted the album more than I wanted to breathe at the moment. She said she'd give it to me for $25 and I was absolutely blown away!! Of course, I was sold. Her reasoning was that she needed some good karma to come her way, so hopefully this good deed wouldn't go unrecognized. Although i'm not a firm believer in karma, I sure hope she gets that good luck.
8:30 rolls around and i'm getting cold sweats, yes, cold sweats!!! A guy who had just finished getting one of his many, many tattoos could definitely notice that this was my first tattoo. He asks "Is this your first tattoo?", and when I say yes he goes, and I quote, "It hurts like a motherfucker!!!!" and walks out the door laughing. Although he was only kidding (I was hoping), I felt as if I had just shrunken down about ten times my body size. Now I was super scared! The tattoo artist came up to me and was so approachable and nice that it made things seem not so bad anymore. Eventually he was ready, and he called me to the seat in the back of the shop...dun dun dunnnn!!!
After cleaning my arm and doing all that other tattoo artist preparation stuff that tattoo artists do, everything was finally set to go. I was still pretty shook but I knew there was absolutely no way I was going to chicken out now. The tattoo was going to go on my left shoulder, which is where i'm almost positive my dad had his only tattoo (I can't remember whether it was the left or right). So getting it in that spot was of significance. Also, I was told that was a spot that it wouldn't severely hurt..sounds good enough to me!
He did one little line to show me how the needle would feel, and honestly, it was much different from how I expected it to be. Of course I still squeezed Kyle's hand all the way through, but it definitely wasn't as killer as I thought it'd be. The tattoo artist, who I never caught the name of, started to ask me questions about the reasoning behind the tattoo. As I started to explain, I found myself getting really into the conversation. I talked very fondly of my dad and I began to realize that the stinging of the needle wasn't so bad as before. I said to the guy "yeah, it's pretty hard not having him around" and he responded "well, hopefully this helps a little bit". My eyes instantly started to tear up and I tried my absolute best not to cry right there. That's definitely one of the moments i'll never forget. Those words really really stuck to me.
I don't even know how long it took but it wasn't very long at all. He finished and I hopped out of the chair to get a look. I can truthfully say I have never looked into a mirror feeling happier with myself. I couldn't thank the tattoo artist enough, even Kyle thanked him. I don't think he realized what a big favor he had just done for me. I had Kyle take a picture of my flexing arm (seen below) and I really just couldn't hide my excitement. I couldn't stop smiling.
I'm beyond happy I decided to get it. It's my way of always having my dad with me. It's something I know i'll never regret and I actually grew a lot from the experience. I hope that wherever his soul is, he's happy and proud of me. This one goes out to you, dad!
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