When I turned 65, for some reason that age really bummed me out. No other number bothered me as much, probably due to AARP and Medicare mail that never, ever seems to stop coming….even if I throw it on the floor and stamp on it. But for months, it still bothered me. Our youngest daughter decided that the thing to do would be for us to get that tattoo I mentioned a couple of times and so…….we did. Originally I wanted a smaller version of Picasso’s hands holding a bouquet, but the tattoo artist at Little Vinnie’s said it would be larger than the two inches I was willing to go for. So, what I did get was my four “flowers”. A bouquet of four flowers depicting our children; each one a different color. Pink for our ‘girlie’ girl, blue for our son, red for my heart, the volatile daughter and yellow for our sunshine, the baby. They are bound together by a gold wedding band for my husband, the one who always has held us together. Miss Sunshine, the one who talked me into it (though it didn’t take much, it was something I wanted to do for a long time) got ‘her’ flower at the same time. The tattoo ‘artist’ was indeed an artist. A little scary admittedly, she herself was tattoed from head to foot, goth with black, black hair and clothes, but when she smiled and those dimples showed, she was adorable. She had to ask us,at one point, to stop making her laugh or her hand would move. We ended the session hugging and kissing goodbye. She, I found out while we were there, is an accomplished sculptor, working in metal and holding a masters degree in fine arts, but could make no money at it. Now she hasn’t any time for her sculpting. She told me I was her oldest person that she had done so far, so I shared with her this story: On the show “Miami Ink”, a reality show about a tattoo parlor in Miami with a great, charismatic owner, Ami, an elderly woman walked into the shop. You saw a little smile on his face when he asked this little old lady, in her sensible shoes, her cotton dress with a white belt, her permed white hair, what he could do for her. She said she wanted a tattoo. Ami was just a tad surprised and asked what it was she wanted. She said that her name was Anna and she wanted an “A” on her arm for her name. He asked how old she was; 80, she replied. Still kind of smiling, he said that he doesn’t usually do such small work, but he would for her if she would tell him why. She said that living in Miami where there are a lot of hurricanes, she’s afraid she’ll get blown away and no one will know who she is. He said it’s only an “A”, how will they know this it stands for your name. She said that if they found an 80 year old woman with a tattoo of an “A” on her arm, they would know it was she! So he did it and she has it. I don’t quite look like that, but still, the least likely person to have a tattoo; a PTA mom who baked brownies and sat on the board. An office manager for two medium sized companies for many years; vice president of one, secretary of the other dressed in my power suits and heels. So when I show it, it gets a lot of comment. Surprisingly, some negative, but mostly “you go girl!”. My tattoo is about a couple of inches below my shoulder, usually hidden, but sometimes it peeks out. My mother used to say that I was so straight but kind of curved at the end……I suppose that’s still true and would describe me accurately. She was always afraid that I would run away to San Francisco and do chalk drawings for a quarter on a corner (I think it was the quarter that bothered her, not so much the chalk drawings.) My huaband doesn’t know what to make of it. So conservative in his dress and thinking, I’ve tried for years to get him to just get that little, little earring…..but no. My children: the pink flower wishes she had the nerve to do it; the red flower thinks it’s ridiculous, the yellow flower herself got what is now her third; the blue flower never said though he himself, a Seattle Seahawks fan, has one of the Seahawks’ logo on his arm and his children’s initials on his wrist.

I have always like dolphins and thought of getting a tattoo of one, however, the thought of someday being incapacitated in a nursing home and listening to the aids discuss my grey whale tattoo has discouraged me.

I’m the one “other” vote, because I don’t have a tattoo…yet. This hippie chick will have a peace sign inked some day. It’s just that same old “when I lose 20 lbs” thing that has to be dealt with first.

One tattoo. A yin –yang to remind me that nothing is completely good or evil, no matter what it may seem at the time. That was when I was 22, 20 years ago. I’ve never regretted it, but it’s also in an inconspicuous place. It’s for me and nobody else.

yes, i have a tattoo..i was 55 when i finally managed to get one..a rose that i designed on above my left ankle…my husband never liked it, but it is a status symbol to me that i have finally done something just for ME in my life…yes, it hurt to have it put on, but, if i had the extra money i would get at least 1, 2, 3……more…

I have a total of 5 tattoos; however, all my tattoos can be covered if I want them. My first tattoo was when I was 22 or 23 and my last tattoo was 6 months after my daughter was born. There isnt anything wrong with tattoos and to each his own. I don’t look down on anyone who has them or where they have them.

yep… I was 42 and there was a tattoo convention in town. It was being held at this hotel on the river near my house. We figured it would be a fun and interesting outing with two of our grown children. We all ended up getting tattoos. Mine is on the back of my neck and is a peace dove with an olive branch. It hurt like hell! i thought i was going to pass out. and it’s a relatively small tattoo. it’s my one and only lemme tell ya. If I wear my hair up I get stopped all the time by people telling me they love my tattoo! the kids all joke about our family tattoo outing.

I got my first one—rose on by back—from Smokey Nightingale in DC—now deceased, but a famous artist then. I was 37. Then I got my second—angel wings with a heart on my right bicep (fashioned after a pin I saw in a catalog—my sister got the same one on her collarbone) some years later. Now, I am thinking of getting a small star next to it. I think my brother is getting a unit when he comes to visit this fall—I may do it. Why our nice midwestern family likes tattoos so much, I have no idea. My daughter has one, my nieces. I would like to hold out for a Chris Garver in Miami, but don’t seem to be headed that direction any time soon.

So far I do not have a tattoo, I have thought about it several times, but was afraid it would hurt. Recently I have thought about it again and this time I want a tattoo that is simple lettering saying “TATTOO”, perhaps on a not so tender place.