Several months ago I blogged about my plans to get a mother/daughter tattoo with my eldest daughter.
A month after that, we did it! My daughter took a Snapchat photo of our arms side by side. On my arm, in her handwriting, it says “It’s going to be okay” and on her arm in my handwriting, it says “It’s going to be okay”. I thought it would be a nice reminder for my daughter, anywhere, anytime, no matter what is going on, or how dark the night is, to be able to look at her arm and see, in her mom’s own handwriting, a promise that it’s going to be okay. I didn’t realize how comforting it would be for me as well, to glance down during a stressful moment and see, peeking out from under the pushed up sleeve of my summer cardigan, the letters “ay” reminding me too, that it’s going to be okay.
I like to study my daughter’s handwriting on my arm – the precision of it, how straight the lines are, and how neatly the dot over the “i” in “going” lines up. My own handwriting is a scrawl and I even apologized to my daughter for how bad i thought it looked. She says she loves it, though. I hope so. We laughed until we cried about how the dot over my “i” floated down the word “going” to land over the letter “g”. The tattoo artist captured it just as I wrote it – typical ADHD handwriting!
Squee indeed! I know now why people who get tattoos get more tattoos! I see why people think they are addictive…
My daughter and I were very excited and nervous the day we got them done. It was the first tattoo for both of us. We made a day if it, just the two of us, going out to lunch before hand. We got there early, so we had time to nervously sit around and study the cleanliness of the shop (it passed inspection – everything including the bathroom was clean and even the eclectic artwork on the walls was dust free.) Our artist was wonderful with us – she was funny and reassuring, with bright green hair and matching eyebrows. She looked just like you’d want your first tattoo artist to look! My daughter got her tattoo done first. It took no time at all, and then it was my turn. It hurt! I gripped my daughter’s hand hard. The shock of feeling the needle made me start laughing and when I laugh, my eyes water, so I was laugh-crying and I think my daughter was too because I was gripping her hand so hard! The manager brought me tissues and fussed a little bit, worried that I was really feeling pain. I was, mildly, but it was a good pain that you understand once you have a tattoo.
The adrenaline rush was incredible, combined with the endorphins released in response to the the needles piercing the skin. My daughter and I both felt ridiculously giddy after getting our tattoos done. The high lasted the rest of the day for us. 10 out of 10, will totally do again!
I love having a tattoo. I love seeing it on my arm. I love when people notice it and ask about it. I love showing it to people. Some are a little shocked (I guess as a middle aged mom, I don’t look like the type of person who would get tattoos!) Some get heart eyes when I explain that it’s a mother-daughter tattoo. Some want to show me theirs, and some want to know when I’ll get the next one. I’ve had overwhelmingly positive reactions (even the shocked reactions are positive to me, since there is nothing I love more than unexpectedly badass!)
My next tattoo might be a mother-daughter tattoo with my younger daughter, or maybe that fox I’ve been thinking about for a few years… we’ll see. There might be more than one in my future!