There’s always that one dumb person, who you don’t know, you know the one……the complete stranger who comes up to you in public and asks…”Did that tattoo hurt?” Ummmmm. Seriously, let’s think about this question. Wikipedia describes the word “tattoo” as follows:
Tattooing involves the placement of pigment into the skin’s dermis, the layer of dermal tissue underlying the epidermis. After initial injection, pigment is dispersed throughout a homogenized damaged layer down through the epidermis and upper dermis, in both of which the presence of foreign material activates the immune system’s phagocytes to engulf the pigment particles. As healing proceeds, the damaged epidermis flakes away (eliminating surface pigment) while deeper in the skin granulation tissue forms, which is later converted to connective tissue by collagen growth. This mends the upper dermis, where pigment remains trapped within fibroblasts, ultimately concentrating in a layer just below the dermis/epidermis boundary. Its presence there is stable, but in the long term (decades) the pigment tends to migrate deeper into the dermis, accounting for the degraded detail of old tattoos.
Some tribal cultures traditionally created tattoos by cutting designs into the skin and rubbing the resulting wound with ink…
(Insert record scratch here) Let’s pull out some key words from above.
- injection
- homogenized damaged layer
- cutting
- wound
I may have a warped sense of humor, but those words don’t exactly make me want to eat butterflies, and poop rainbows. Those are some harsh, eye squinting words. I mean I get the chills just thinking about them. Â So I want to come up with an universal answer to one of the stupidest question asked. Â How about I answer with one of these…”If you mated a Bulldog with a Shitsu would you get Bullshit?” or “If a man is walking in a forest and no woman is there to hear him…is he still wrong?” Â and the answer to both is YES. Duh!
So, let’s go back a few years. I received my first tattoo at the age of 18. “Chopper” was his name. His shop was located on State Street in SLC, Utah. I was pretty sure I was going to die. Long biker hair, leather vest, braided facial hair, grey colored skin. I mean he scared the living crap out of me. I was just a nice, young lady trying to rebel…not die! I got an old school Tasmanian Devil on my left shoulder. (Don’t judge.) A few years later, I met “Twister” on the Las Vegas strip. I got a sweet Pam Anderson/Bay Watch vine around my arm. I wasn’t alone on that adventure. I have to give partial credit to Jodi. 🙂 Anyhow, the tattoos kept coming, and I learned that Tattoo Artists are pretty legit. They all have a story, and are pretty fun to talk to.
I know people say I will regret my tattoos when I get older. I will just tell you all now. I won’t! Every one of my tattoo’s has a story. A low point in my life or a high point. Every experience I have gone through, has made me who I am today. My most recent tattoo is this one.
This was right after the my first session on this tattoo. I’ve since added to it, but the importance is the same to me.  (If you look close you will see a sweet Pam Anderson vine in the tree limbs.) You see…I got this tattoo while Meagan was in Army Bootcamp. I wanted something to symbolize the importance of the letters I got in the mail from her. The first few weeks of basic all we had was snail mail to communicate. It was awful…to say the least. The necklace around the bird is symbolizing her “dog tag” chain, and the purple stone is for wisdom, dignity, and independence. I love it. 🙂
This is Jocelyn’s favorite tattoo.
I’m sure this has many different meanings for her, but I do know it is a Gary Allen song. Her favorite person in the world….after Alli, Raffin, and me of course.
Then we have Meagan….
She is lacking in the WISDOM department, so I hope this wise fella can help her out. Oh…never ever ever get a name tattooed. Right MNM?
What do you think about tattoo’s? Do you have any? Would you ever get one? Where would you put it and what would it be? How much money would it take, for you to let someone else pick a tattoo for you? Curious minds want to know! 🙂
