Age, rules, and tattoos
I have long been a fan of tattoos. I have several and the ink gods willing I WILL have more. My tattoo journey is a different one that most. I entered into my first tattoo collaboration later than most of my friends and from what I have seen most of the ink bearers in the world. I was well into my adulthood when I first went under the needle. There were many factors in this.
Factor number one
Pregnancy.
Some of you may know that I do have a lot of children. I have them in the double digits and am VERY PROUD to talk about it to whoever will feign an interest in them. Oh yeah...I'm one of those, but i digress. It is this multitude of children who kept my ink dreams at bay. You can't get a tattoo if you are pregnant and or breast feeding. Trust me I tried. ( I know bad mommy, please no judgies) I would wander in shops in different parts of the country over the years and gaze at the awesome art in portfolios and on walls thinking if I looked sweet enough or cute enough someone would go...."ohhh ok come on lets ink you out!" They did not. This is a good thing it meant they were following rules, or at least when I was there they were.
Some of them would however let me hang and look round with my enormous belly and listen to me spout my dreams and fantasies of this or that tattoo. A couple even doodled on my hand or arm with permanent markers. ( I know sickeningly cute right?)
Factor number two
The children
Funny thing about kids, once they are here they have to have food, shelter and clothing and for like 18 to 20 years it's all on you! Go figure right? All of us ink hounds know that ink aint cheap and neither is anything else in life so since I made the councious decision to procreate and have these beautiful human beings it would be a little messed up to go, "So sorry kids mommy can't buy you groceries and electricity this month because she's getting decked out with ink." Yeah that wouldn't work would it? They would be visiting me through plate glass because there isn't a person in the world who would see that as rational.
So lets look at those two factors. We have a number of pregnancies, plus an average of breast feeding of 2 years each. Add that with the financial factor and there you have it. No room for tattoos. Now I bet you are saying, "Hold it, you still have kids at home, and a lot of them." Yes, yes, I do. But I have less children and have learned how to save and stretch and be a money miser so I have been able to finance a few really nice tattoos.
I get a little flack from those rebellious rebels who went out as teens and got some really killer ink at some obscure place with my friends. They speak as if there are some kind of rules to what age you need to be to be in the cool kids club. Right, so if we are deciding who is cool by that mark then I have some teen stories that blow getting tattooed out of the water and I bet mine were way more fun. So this got me thinking about age, or ages as it were and what society expects from different age groups.
I have always viewed age as just a number. I don't tell my age most of the time and not because I think I am getting up there but because it shouldn't matter. Whether or not you do or do not like me should not have anything to do with my age. Just like anything I like should have nothing to do with my age. I like what I like. Period. I have a light heart and just want to enjoy the hell out of this earth and life while I am here.
I say rules, age, groups and expectations be damned! No more cliques and groups and looking down ones nose at people. Enjoy one another. Go hang with someone 30 years older than yourself,( some of my most favorite peeps were almost 50 years older than I) or younger for that matter! Enjoy each others company. Talk to each other, learn from each other. This is a time when you should break the rules that have been set before us for so many, many generations. Accept when these rules are broken we as human beings will be all the better for it.
Factor number one
Pregnancy.
Some of you may know that I do have a lot of children. I have them in the double digits and am VERY PROUD to talk about it to whoever will feign an interest in them. Oh yeah...I'm one of those, but i digress. It is this multitude of children who kept my ink dreams at bay. You can't get a tattoo if you are pregnant and or breast feeding. Trust me I tried. ( I know bad mommy, please no judgies) I would wander in shops in different parts of the country over the years and gaze at the awesome art in portfolios and on walls thinking if I looked sweet enough or cute enough someone would go...."ohhh ok come on lets ink you out!" They did not. This is a good thing it meant they were following rules, or at least when I was there they were.
Some of them would however let me hang and look round with my enormous belly and listen to me spout my dreams and fantasies of this or that tattoo. A couple even doodled on my hand or arm with permanent markers. ( I know sickeningly cute right?)
Factor number two
The children
Funny thing about kids, once they are here they have to have food, shelter and clothing and for like 18 to 20 years it's all on you! Go figure right? All of us ink hounds know that ink aint cheap and neither is anything else in life so since I made the councious decision to procreate and have these beautiful human beings it would be a little messed up to go, "So sorry kids mommy can't buy you groceries and electricity this month because she's getting decked out with ink." Yeah that wouldn't work would it? They would be visiting me through plate glass because there isn't a person in the world who would see that as rational.
So lets look at those two factors. We have a number of pregnancies, plus an average of breast feeding of 2 years each. Add that with the financial factor and there you have it. No room for tattoos. Now I bet you are saying, "Hold it, you still have kids at home, and a lot of them." Yes, yes, I do. But I have less children and have learned how to save and stretch and be a money miser so I have been able to finance a few really nice tattoos.
I get a little flack from those rebellious rebels who went out as teens and got some really killer ink at some obscure place with my friends. They speak as if there are some kind of rules to what age you need to be to be in the cool kids club. Right, so if we are deciding who is cool by that mark then I have some teen stories that blow getting tattooed out of the water and I bet mine were way more fun. So this got me thinking about age, or ages as it were and what society expects from different age groups.
I have always viewed age as just a number. I don't tell my age most of the time and not because I think I am getting up there but because it shouldn't matter. Whether or not you do or do not like me should not have anything to do with my age. Just like anything I like should have nothing to do with my age. I like what I like. Period. I have a light heart and just want to enjoy the hell out of this earth and life while I am here.
I say rules, age, groups and expectations be damned! No more cliques and groups and looking down ones nose at people. Enjoy one another. Go hang with someone 30 years older than yourself,( some of my most favorite peeps were almost 50 years older than I) or younger for that matter! Enjoy each others company. Talk to each other, learn from each other. This is a time when you should break the rules that have been set before us for so many, many generations. Accept when these rules are broken we as human beings will be all the better for it.
I salute you my friend. Well Written defense of an amazing art form.
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