Tattoos

I just received a text from my other blogging half (is that a thing?) telling me that she blogged.  And my only response was "crap!"  Because I had forgotten to blog, so I'm not prepared.  Usually I come up with my blog topic on Wednesday, then write it several times in my head before I actually sit down at the computer.  Not this week, though.  This week, I'm just letting it flow out of my fingers like "piss on a flat rock."  (that was one of my dad's favorite sayings)

I guess I'll talk about tattoos - they seem to be on my mind.

Tattoo: the act or practice of marking the skin with indelible patterns, pictures,legends, etc., by making punctures in it and inserting pigments (from dictionary.com)

This was the second tattoo on the website; the first had something to do with making noise on drums or something.  Which I thought was weird, but really?  It's not because the tattoos we mark on our bodies are our silent noise.  They are what the owner wants to put out there for people to see (or not) but don't have the words to say out loud.  

I mean, when I think about my tattoos: a world (trampstamp) and a moose (on my shoulder) 

When people ask me about them, I have a story for each, but in my mind I'm thinking "I wish they hadn't asked because when I explain, it sounds dumb."  And I didn't realize that's why I felt weird explaining my tattoos until a good friend didn't ask me about my new one (the moose), even though she went with me to get it.  When I asked her why she didn't ask (cause that's what I do), she said, "they're personal and no one's explanation can really justify them."

That hit me like a ton of bricks.  Because she's right.  At least I think she is.  

I have lots of friends who have tattoos - the friend above has almost TWO sleeves of tattoos.  I have two and have planned and booked a third.  Another friend has several - some of which I know the story behind and some I don't. I have another friend who just gets tattoos because she likes the character or design - there isn't a lot of sentimental thought behind any one (that I know of).  But each one of us got those tattoos for a reason and that reason is ours.  I know I couldn't explain them in words... they are too much of me.