the Tattoo

Tattoos are very interesting things. When you see someone with one, the mind starts wondering what it is, does it symbolize something or was it just because everyone else had one? …does it say something about the owner, or it is just an arbitrary image picked at random because it fit the space?...does it have a mate on someone else’s body like a name or the other half of a Mizpah coin? …are they just a single item or part of an ever-expanding complex of images?

My two best friends and I had decided we were going to get a tattoo when we turned 50…well, he went ahead and got one to add to his collection; she and I are still debating it, talking stage still, wondering about the cost, when to do this, where to put it, etc….and yes, we are all OVER 50 now, but I figure if my mom could get her’s at 67, I have some time..lol.

A tattoo is a very personal thing, for me at least. It needs to say something about ME, who I am, what I stand for, what my interest(s) are….and by this, nothing run-of-the-mill, ordinary, artsy-fartsy, carbon copy of some-one else’s…..So, where do I begin? Because when all is said and done, the thinking has been ongoing for some time now. I have definite ideas of what I would like to have, just not finalized to any one image – and that is all I plan to have is the one….so, who am I , really? I have bits of all kinds of images dancing in my head, so here is Me trying to make sense of it all…. Simple, clean lines, very straightforward and uncluttered, with gentle curves as opposed to angular/boxy lines. Spiders, simply because I am a spinner. Angels and/or fairies, because I have a fascination for the mystical/mythical beings that inhabit our world. Rocks, representing stability and solidness but sometimes hiding their beauty within like geodes. Celtic knots, the intricate weaving of cords that look at once solid and impenetrable yet easily pulled open and apart, representing the ties that bind us together and how much are lives are intertwined. Trees and/or plants, what symbolize life and growing things. Stick figures of people or hands enclosed in a heart reflecting my love of family and friends. An image of diverging paths/roads, because I have always followed my own path -- as my sister said, walked to the beat of a different drummer – and the family euphemism of my “taking the scenic path’ because I got lost (yes, I took the wrong way to get somewhere, but we eventually despite the 80-mile round trip misstep, got to where we needed/wanted to be)……

See what I mean ? …not such an easy task to define ME in a single image, there are simply too many facets comprising the Me that is ME….So, the thinking and reflecting on these images continues as I try to make some sense of it all, as well as come up with a way to pull them all together in a cohesive unit that truly will say ….. Me.