So I Was Hanging Out at the Tattoo Parlor

Today is the blog blast I'm hosting as a round up to the previous days worth of tattoo madness! When I was sent the tattoo pictures from so many other bloggers, many of them felt compelled to email the story behind the ink as well and I really felt that if they wanted to share that, I'd love to link it for everyone to read!

I will be updating this post all day, including the correct matches for the blogger to the tattoo, the person who got the most right, and I'll be adding in those story links when you send 'em in! So keep checking back...

My story first.
In late winter 2001, there were two things going on. A friend of mine in Chicago was going thru a nasty divorce and I was staring down the barrel of my 29th birthday and it was kind of freaking me out.
I flew to my friend's house for a few days to just hang out with her. She and her soon to be ex were still maintaining life in the same household but she was a wreck from all the crap he was pulling on her there. She really wanted to get a tattoo, something symbolic, to represent this change in her life. I knew she wanted to do this while I was there to go along with, and it got me thinking about how I'd always wanted one since my college years.
During college, I think I would have regretted my choice of tattoo and where I wanted to put it. I had wanted a Tweety on my ankle. (Tweety is a family nickname) I must have realized that and never did follow thru.
But this time around with my friend, I was older, wiser (ha!), and already had two children. I still wanted to get a tattoo, but this time I wanted one that was just for me. So I got my tattoo in the "tramp stamp" location, rationalizing that even with pregnancy that area doesn't move around much. I don't have stretch marks after all these kids but I still didn't want anything in my abdomen area or near my breasts thinking ahead to what it might look like when I'm an old old lady.
That lower back is pretty harmless. It's easily hidden.
And, I did pick something that seemed to define me more. A smiley sun, with green eyes. Something bright and happy, because that's how I try to approach life.
Hubby didn't think I'd go thru with it when I called from Chicago the night before telling him we were going the next day.
Truly, though, if labor pain is a 10, then tattoo pain is a 2 at the most. And he already had one, but then when I got one he felt in his dude way he should have more than me because he's the boy, so he got a second tattoo a couple years later when we were in Vegas.
I like my tattoo, I don't regret getting it because I can spend the rest of my life keeping it hidden if I want to, it's really not a big deal. I didn't share it with my inlaws because my MIL was freaked out when hubby came home from Desert Storm sporting his first tattoo, I thought she'd flip if she knew I had one. So, for 4 years my MIL didn't know until we were in Arizona for Easter and I bent over to pick up a toy and my SIL saw it and says, "Do you have a tattoo on your back?"
Yeah, thanks for outing me. That was great. I could have choked her.
My friend, by the way, got a heart with wings on her thigh. It was a representation of the life change she was making and the symbolism was so intensely important to her that for the next few days after she would look at it and just cry with relief. It was a symbol of emotional freedom for my friend, and sometimes having a visual reminder about how life can change for the better isn't such a bad thing, is it?
I'd like to give a shout out to Chicago Ed (that was his name) who had been doing tattoos for decades for the excellent work. His arms were covered in the old school all black tattoos and he was very nice, even when my body was cramping from sitting hunched over for that long.

Thanks to everyone who participated in my Tattoo Party, it was really cool to see all the skin art! Here are a few more stories for you to peruse:

• Busy Dad - The Distinguished Gentleman
• A Family Story - My Tattoos...
• The Mommy Diaries - Imagination Running Wild
• Edge - The One Where Things Start to Make Sense
• Secret Agent Mama - My Ink
• Nancy - Barbie, Not Midge
• Celtic Buffy - The Story Behind My Ink
• Laura - Exposing My Boob for You All
• G-Mom - A Little Something for Sunshine
• MamaLyd - My Ink
• MyShell - Ink Up...
• Autumn's Mom - The One Where She Got a Tattoo
• Christine - Valentine Tattoo
• Chilihead - Honu Turtles
• IrishKat - What Makes This Lassie Sassy
  
• Who's next???

You will have been able to identify some of the correct matches if you've been reading the stories behind the ink. Just in case, here is the answer key (refer to the original posting of the pictures with the bloggers if you've forgotten)

Sunshine - I (mine was the easiest one in the bunch!!)
IrishKat - P
Laura - Y
Doc - Q
Autumn’s Mom - V
Teri - C
Nancy - R
Busy Dad - B
CPA Mom - E
Gunfighter - K
G-Mom - J
Petroville - H
Edge - N
Nissa - S
Celtic Buffy - U
The Mommy Diaries - D
Discovering Dad - F
Going Crunchy - L
MyShell - O
Secret Agent Mama - W
Mommy is Moody - T
MamaLyd - X
Chili head - A
Amy W - M
Christine - G

And Diane of The Mommy Diaries was the winner with the most accurate guesses, come on over for a homemade prison tat, courtesy of me, the hostess! I promise, it will hardly hurt.

Thanks to everyone for coming to the Tattoo Party, hopefully you had some fun and discovered a few new friends, I know I did. I'll be doing it again!