Tattoo Tale #1.

Every tattoo has a story, and here's the story of one of mine...

Back in high school I probably would have been voted Girl Least Likely to Get Tattooed, if they'd had such a title. I was a good girl, a good student. It's not that I had anything against tattoos at all, but at that time it seemed like it was always the wild kids that would get the tattoos and back then I didn't have a wild bone in my body. I was in the high school band, the color guard, the winter guard, the bowling club and the French club. So as you can see, these activities don't necessary scream out "party girl" in any way. During those years I never thought much about tattoos at all. I had few family members with tattoos (mostly uncles) and while I thought they were neat, it never crossed my mind to want one for myself.

That all changed after graduation, however. I don't know what first caused the flip in my mind, but I found myself wanting a tattoo. I wasn't sure what I wanted or even where on my body I wanted to have it. I just had an overwhelming desire to have some body art. When the desire first came upon me, I didn't do anything about it right away. I thought that I was the only one in my circle of friends who'd actually want a tattoo, so I said nothing about it. I didn't want to go to a tattooist on my own, so I let the thought linger and figured some day in the future, maybe I'd get one.

One day a friend and I somehow got on the topic of tattoos and we were equally shocked by how much the other one was thinking the same thing... we both wanted to get a tattoo. Neither one of us knew anyone personally in our local area that had tattoos who could recommend a place to go. We were afraid to randomly pick a tattoo parlor. We didn't want to end up getting infections or worse from the tattoo needles, so somehow we had to find a way to figure out which tattoo artist we wanted to use.

Days, weeks, months passed and we didn't talk much about it. I know I kept thinking about it, but was half-certain that I'd chicken out in the long run. One day I was sitting home watching television when Oprah came on. I've never been a regular viewer of that show, but that day I decided to watch it. In an interesting turn of fate, one of her guests was a tattoo artist that owned a tattoo parlor in New Jersey! Not just anywhere in New Jersey, but in Wayne, which wasn't far at all from where I lived. A little light bulb went on above my head and I just knew that Oprah wouldn't have just any ol' tattoo guy on her show. Clearly she must have invited him because he was respectable, clean and successful. I knew then and there that my first tattoo would be done at his place.

It took some time for my friend and I to get together the funds that we thought we'd need to get our tattoos and we were both 19 years old by the time we did so. Excitement hit us hard when we realized we were really going to go through with it!

Walking into the tattoo studio for the first time was an experience I'll never forget. We were instantly amazed by all the pictures on the wall. It was almost overwhelming! Of course at this point neither one of us really knew what we wanted to have tattooed, but we were going to get something! I knew for certain that I didn't want a rose or anything girly. I've always been a tomboy and wanted something that wouldn't be overly feminine. When I saw a picture on the wall of a certain tattoo... I knew it was meant for me. It was perfect. It wasn't feminine in the least and it was unique. I knew that no one else around would have something similar. Although I'm sure there are others elsewhere that have it too, but it spoke to me and I knew that I'd found my tattoo.

My friend went first because she was afraid if she watched me get mine done she'd chicken out if I so much as let on that there was any pain. She had a sunflower with a peace sign done on her middle-lower back. Not a spot that I had any intention of getting a tattoo in this life time.

My turn was up and I told the gentleman what I wanted and where. And what I wanted was a bat tattooed on my upper back, right near the shoulder blade. And that's what I got. The bat spoke to me because I have always been freakishly obsessed with all things vampire... books, movies, TV shows, myths and legends, etc. This was not an interest that would ever disappear from my life. It was perfect. I was so thrilled with it. In the location that I have it, I can hide it completely just by wearing a shirt. So for the most part, no one even knew that I had it for quite some time. I was surprised that there was no real pain involved in the process. I'd had fear that it would hurt, but to me it wasn't painful at all. The most annoying part of it was the sound of the needle. The noise was real close to my ear and had a rather irritating buzz to it. Other than that my entire experience with getting my first tattoo was a very positive one. I know when we walked out of the building, my friend and I were both so giddy that we'd actually done something wild and crazy!

And that's the story of my first tattoo. I was going to include the stories for all my tattoos, but this article somehow ended up being way too long as it is. Tattoos 2-5 will come at a later time.

Can I just say... do you know how hard it is to take a photo of your back shoulder blade with a cell phone in a tiny medicine cabinet mirror? It is not easy! That's for sure! But in case anyone's interested... I've included a (very bad) photo here so that you can get an idea of what my tattoo #1 looks like. After all these years it could use a color touch up, I'm sure.

 It's true that tattoos are addicting. I now have five and I am getting the itch to get another. I know tattoos aren't for everyone and I'll never get completely covered in them, but I do appreciate the beauty in tattoos and think they are such a neat way of expressing one's personality.

 

Author: Vikki M.