Ok. I really, no kidding, for real, amazed myself, amazed my kids, but did it anyway, got a tattoo.
I think the folks at the tattoo parlor were even more amazed than I. They don’t often have a family come in and request tattoos for all. That’s right me, the hubby, 2 of the kids and a friend of one of the kids decided on a whim to get the tattoos we all joked about someday getting. Before you start thinking I’m a lousy mom, you should know everyone was over 21 (BTW, My friend Christine, from OMG I Need a Glass of Wine or I’m Going to sell My Kids!, got here nose pierced along with her teenaged daughter. Boy did she get a lot of heat!).
I got a small Smiley Face on the inside of my left wrist. It’s just black lines. I’d intended to have it filled in with Smiley Yellow, but when it was still just the black lines, I had a lightening bolt of a really great, I.M.H.O., idea! Leave it as an outline and I can use sharpies to fill it in, day by day, to match my outfit.* If you’re rolling your eyes, just imagine the eye rolling that happened among the hardcore, totally tatted, pierced-a-plenty, tattoo parlor workers and patrons.
Dave the husband got a red heart with a Smiley Face in the center right over his heart (for me!). Hillary the daughter got a tomato cage, on her forearm. Alex the friend got half a peach, on his wrist. Darren the son got the box the Aviator draws when the Little Prince wants him to draw a sheep**, on his ribs. And delightful-est of things, when Darren told the tattoo artist what he wanted, the guy immediately knew what he was talking about.
Then off to dinner, where the waiter flirted shamelessly with Darren, and then Darren and Alex got on a plane to return to Chicago. It was a pretty, darned great, last night with my baby before he headed off to that life he has where he pretends he’s a grown up and I miss him tons and tons.
Smile. Be happy.
Ruth
* Kind of like Dorothy asking “Can you really dye my eyes to match my gown?” Don’t get the reference? Yikes. You need to watch The Wizard of Oz!! The real one. The one with Judy Garland.
** Don’t get the reference? The Little Prince is one of my absolute favorite books. If you haven’t read it, you really, truly must. Click and you”ll go to Amazon, where I get nada/zip/zilch for sending you. I just want you, and everybody, to read it! 