Recently I posted about my love of tattoos and also put out there that I was interested in seeing other people's and hearing their stories as a guest post. And I actually got some replies. My first one is from The Infamous Rosalee. She use to have a blog that I loved to read, but she deleted it and decided to concentrate on silly things like school and life. Pht. But she is making a return appearance for me because she thinks I'm special. Take that how you want. Without further ado...
this picture doesn't show how freaking hot she is but I thought it was cute
Please note: I am a smart woman that does a lot of stupid shit I have come to realize.
I was nineteen when I got my first tattoo. I guess I was a year behind on that trend, but shit man, I’ve never followed trends. Although I got the tattoo when I was in college I had been thinking about it for years. I always knew I wanted a tattoo, at least one. The questions, however, were “what” and “where.”
The tattoo story picks up about six years later when I was sixteen. My family went on a trip out West to Arizona. My father used to be a counselor for his old fraternity and they were having a “conclave.” My father was one of the chaperons for his chapter. It was nice, because whenever there was a conclave we always got put up for free at a nice big hotel. There were always functions for the women and children to do while the men went off and sat in meetings all day. My mother blew off the wives’ activities though because they generally revolved around shopping. Her argument was, “if I’m going to be in a new and unfamiliar city, why should I go waste my time in a Macy’s when we have one back home?” It made sense to me. Thus, when they actually offered an educational trip to the desert at the Sedona conclave, we jumped on it. Not only did we tour the desert, but we also toured some local caves in which there were cave paintings by the Anasazi tribe. It was on this trip that I found the design I had been seeking. It was one of the cave paintings, two fish jumping head-to-tail. I sketched it into my notebook. To me it was such a deeply profound and spiritual image, the circle of life depicted so simply.
the infamous sketch
I held onto that image, going back to it again and again. Not too long after I found a very similar image in some clip art on the family computer. It was two fish jumping head to tail again, but more detailed. I remember thinking at the time, “what luck!” I got it to a decent size, folded the paper down around it and kept it in that very same sketchbook. The picture got slightly tattered over the years, but I held onto it, referring to it often. Given the size of the image and the circular nature, I decided it belonged on a part of my body where it could be central so things would look symmetrical, my lower back.
Then, at nineteen, I had finally worked up the nerve to get the tattoo. I took the guy I was dating at the time with me to the tattoo parlor to hold my hand. I handed my picture over to the woman tattoo artist and when she said, “oh, the Pisces symbol!” I was floored. “Excuse me?!” I said. I had never been one to keep up with astrology but I was committed to this image. I had spent YEARS planning this and now I was going to have an astrological symbol PERMANENTLY placed upon my body. Oh, and I am not a Pisces. I didn’t have much time to decide whether or not to go through with it. I sucked it up and got inked. I figured at least I would always have a funny story.
So, now I have a Pisces tramp stamp. When I GOT the tattoo they were not referred to as tramp stamps. That happened later. Not a fan of that phrase. The humiliation is continuous. Tattooed friends make fun of me because it is a tramp stamp. I stopped telling my funny story too. It just made me sound too much like an idiot. Now I say that I got it for an ex-boyfriend. To cap it all off, when I had to have back surgery at the ripe ol’age of 24 the neurologist made a joke about my tattoo because it marked the spot where the surgery would be taking place, “it’s like a bulls eye!”
the infamous finished product. I like it.
The most ironic bit about all of this is that I tend to date men who are Pisces more than any other astrological symbol.
Don't worry Rosalee, my first one was a tramp stamp. And I even have some that are spelled wrong, in another language. Oh yeah I did that. Pisces schmises, I like your first interpretation of the circle of life.
If you want to guest post, just email me. I'd love to hear it and feature you.
