Tattoos

I am a huge fan of tattoo's..there, I've finally admitted it.
I love them and I am really intrigued by them I look at other folks tatt's and wonder what it means to them, who inked them and sometimes I even wonder what the heck they were thinking when they got them.
Sometimes.. seriously think "Like, OMG...what were they thinking???"

Some say the eyes are the window to the soul. That may be very true..but I think tattoo's are the window to the soul.
I can look at a tattoo and know if the person was grieving when they got it, if they were celebrating a certain time of their lives, a birth, time in the military maybe.
I see names permanently embedded on one's body and wonder "Are they still with that person, I sure do hope so."

When I met Karl he had tattoo's. He was the very first guy I ever dated with tattoo's. Heck, he was the very first person I knew with tattoo's and that very day in January 1980 I suddenly became extremely fascinated with tattoo's.

Back in those days you really only saw men who were hardened bikers or men fresh out of the Navy with tattoo's.
I had a friend or two who got one. They were pretty darn brave because back in those days, the tattoo shops were biker run and they were scary man, very scary and kind of dark, smokey and dirty too.

When I was in my mid to later 30's I felt the need to get some ink.
Karl and I fought about it forever. He definitely didn't want me too.
Then, one day we took this family trip to a beach that we happened to stumble upon. It was beautiful and we pretty much had the whole place to ourselves all day long.
I assume because not many Floridians go swimming in December. But..we were newbie NY transplants..and we thought the water was just fine.


**Note to Add**
I would NEVER to that now..Florida makes the blood real, real thin. I am a pansy.

Anywhos...we watched a few dolphins dancing, jumping and putting on the most graceful and beautiful show I had ever seen.
I wanted to remember that day forever.
And so it was..my first tattoo became a dolphin jumping out of the water with a ring of bright tropical flowers around him.

My second ink I got right after we lost our beautiful, first granddaughter, Alexes. Because of the butterflies that came around whenever her name was mentioned, I have Alexes' butterfly.

My third, is what peep's here in the South call "Tramp Stamps". LOL!!
It's one of those lower back tatt's and it is an awesome tatt with hearts and barbed wire. In the middle heart is Karl's name.
The barbed wire represents that marriage is not easy and there are times in that journey that you will be hurt
The hearts represent no matter what we still love each other.
His name represents that he will be the only man I will ever love with every ounce of my being.

A word of advice though...be sure you have been married at least 20 years before attempting a name tattoo.
We fought like crazy people for three solid weeks afterwards, so the myth is true..superstition has it when you tattoo someones name on yourself, you are bound to fight like maniacs or break up.
The names still there, we are still together.
BTW..that same day Karl got a ring of barbed wire around his arm with my name written in barbed wire right above it.

My last and goodness knows that hopefully not last {Kyle James gave me a gift certificate last Sept. for my b-day that I've never used} is a tribal tattoo that I envisioned.
I knew what I wanted, I knew I wanted it on my upper back/lower neck and I knew exactly what color it should be..purple and black.
The one problem was that I could clearly see this tattoo in my mind, but I've never seen it anywhere else.

So..Karl took me to our fave tattoo artist and as I explained to him what I wanted. All the while Karl, as husbands do, said "Kim..your not explaining what you want right, he's never going to understand you, yadda, yadda, yadda."
Well sure as heck, "B.G." drew as I was talking and showed me what he created.
It was exactly what I envisioned. :0)
After he inked that tatt on me, he gave me the drawing so nobody else will ever have it. He knew how much it meant to me.

This tattoo is special to me because it contains a hidden word.
Can you see it?



Here's a hint as quoted by Mr. Terry, Juliana Banana's Dad..

"Without ______ there is no _______."

This, BTW, is not only my favorite quote, but one we live by everyday in our home. :0)

We all hope that you all have the most awesome day ever!!

Love, Kim