Tuesday, June 3, 2008

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

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Without HOPE there is no HOPE. I saw it immediately. I never comment (on blogs) but I felt the need to today for some reason. It is true. I am attracted to tattoos and I do wonder "What was that person THINKING??" or I agree, you can usually tell their meaning and that is awesome. I would never in my life tattoo something that didn't mean something to me. Like whole heartedly mean something to me. My mom, for example, has (no joke) 28 tattoos. Some have meaning, some are just random inkings because maybe there was skin left over? She thankfully doesn't have a lot of spots left to put tattoos on. Anyway. I have three. One is on my left shoulder. Kanjii (and you better believe that I researched this one to make sure it was right!!) for "Trust". My second was what your southerners (and us Northerners) refer to as a "tramp stamp). Its a superman symbol with my brothers birth date, his name (Chad) with a halo above his name and his death date. He passed from Leukemia 5 years ago. And lastly I have a orange ribbon on my right lower leg that represents Leukemia.

Michelle
Chellezz2@hotmail.com

paulandstephanieb said...

I see the word "HOPE" I love the tattoo. I have 4 tattoos myself and love everyone. I find them very intriguing. I finally convinced my husband that he needed one himself.

Leeann said...

I see the word, but I'm not sure I would have without your hint! After that, it jumped right out at me!

leeann

Tammy said...

of course--HOPE!! without HOPE, there is no HOPE!

Tammy in Pensacola

Tammy said...

HOPE!!! of course-without HOPE, there is no HOPE!!

Tammy in Pensacola

Anonymous said...

Hi Kim. I am so interested in your tattoos. I'm way too chicken to ever get one of my own but I'm fascinated by them. I love love love Miami Ink. Love it!!! Please...pretty please....with a cherry on top....post some pics of your tattoos on here for us to see. That would be awesome.
Thanks!
Michelle

Rebekah said...

Oh Kim - I LOVE LOVE LOVE the new tattoo drawing ... it is going to be breath takingly beautiful with so much meaning behind it ... thanks for sharing so much about what is 'hidden' on so many of 'us' tattoo lovers ... I always say if you saw people neked you'd be blown away by whats on their bodies ... I am inked as well ... with a huge portrait of my baby girl on my back ... it is amazing and beautiful and solemn ... she is the reason I am who I am ...

Well have a wonderful Day!

Rebekah, Jaden and FINALLY Baby#2 TOO!

Rebekah said...

Oh Kim - I LOVE LOVE LOVE the new tattoo drawing ... it is going to be breath takingly beautiful with so much meaning behind it ... thanks for sharing so much about what is 'hidden' on so many of 'us' tattoo lovers ... I always say if you saw people neked you'd be blown away by whats on their bodies ... I am inked as well ... with a huge portrait of my baby girl on my back ... it is amazing and beautiful and solemn ... she is the reason I am who I am ...

Well have a wonderful Day!

Rebekah, Jaden and FINALLY Baby#2 TOO!

K said...

I saw exactly what that tattoo said- and that is beautiful!!

My tattoo stories......

#1- Got on my 32nd birthday just because I always wanted one. It's a sun with a yin/yang in the middle and it's on my hip. And I love it.

#2- A few months after the first one, I was drinking with a friend. Unfortunately, there is a great bar attached to a great tattoo parlor near me. Well we drank ourselves into 10 feet tall and bulletproof and decided to get inked. The shop was wrong to do it- but I accept the blame for the ugly lizard (your boys would probably love it) on my lower back.

#3- I was scared off of tats after the lizard incident so it took a few years but I did get inspired for another one. One of my friends was dx with breast cancer and on the day of her mastectomy I had a pink ribbon tattooed on my lower leg just above the ankle. I've never regretted that one and since I'm an active relay for lifer I plan to get a purple one and also a bladder cancer (yellow) in honor of my grandfather.

I hope it's never completely linked but everytime someone I care about has a diagnosis I'm going to add to it.

Anonymous said...

WOW Kim that is a beautiful tattoo. I love it! I to love tattoos. I have 4 of them myself. They all have meaning to me as well. We also live by that very same quote.

Anonymous said...

is the word HOPE?

Anonymous said...

I sure HOPE you like your latest tattoo, Kim!! :)

Also hoping the entire K-Klan is doing fine today.

Shiela

Anonymous said...

i'm getting my first tat this month
it also involves a heart but i'm not showing anyone the design untill i get it :)

so you'll see it sometime this month

Anonymous said...

Is it HOPE?

Anonymous said...

Dear Kim,

It's too bad you're not going to be in Chicago at the end of the month. We're having a big TATOO ART EXPO at Navy Pier. I love your new tatoo.

Mary
miniteasets@mail2world.com

Laura said...

I can't believe I couldn't figure it out. I had the H and the E...just needed the middle. I too have a tattoo. Yes, the "trampstamp", but unlike the others I wanted something that didn't mean anything...if that makes sense. I just got a tribal symbol and I love it. I didn't want a butterly, dolphin, heart, lizard, etc. or anything that later on I might be like "what was I thinking". So I picked something that "didn't" have meaning, but that I really liked. I never thought I would get a tattoo. My husband suggested it to me about 6 years ago while on vacation and I talked myself into it...but then it never happened. Not until about a year later. My husband surprised me (I thought I was going to dinner), but instead I got my tattoo. Everyone told me I would want another one...and guess what I do. Haven't really thought about what or where I would get one this time, maybe the ankle,back of the neck or my pelvis. I kind of like my tattoos hidden (for my husbands eyes only). Will probably stick with the tribal symbol. Again, I would hate to get a picture of something I like at this point in my life and wonder later on "WHY". Maybe a tribal symbol with my kids initials or name incorpated into it. I know they will always be a part of my life.

I do absolutely love the hope tattoo. It is tribal, a symbol (the heart, but not too obvious) and it says something (again not that obvious). I LOVE IT! Maybe I can steal your idea, but have it made with my kids initials instead.

Thanks for sharing with all of us. I hate to miss a day of your posts. Can't wait until Monday's to catch up on the weekend news.

Laura Kondo
Tampa, FL

Kari Z. said...

Hey Kim, I loved your tattoo story. I always thought that I would never have a man with a tattoo. ha/ha I never liked them until I met my man. He was on leave from the Navy and one of the first things he did was remove his shirt to show me the two tattoos on his chest. Since I wasn't a tattoo fan I remember (and he likes to remind me) that I said, "They're nice but you wouldn't have gotten them if you knew me." What???? So I fall in love with this man in a very short time, then I marry him. We now have been married for 14 yrs this October with three kids. Back when I turned 30 I decided that I needed to join him with some ink myself because by then I was really lovin' checking out people's tattoos. Well I got an anchor with a rope on my lower leg to represent him in the Navy and the rope is that no matter where he is, we will always be attached. We survived a deployment to Iraq and now we are getting him a new tattoo for Father's Day to commemorate the Gulf Wars and Iraq Wars that he has been in with the Bald Eagle. Tattoos are addicting and I loved em'.

Love to all of the K-family.

Unknown said...

at first i thought it said "home" and then i looked again and saw the "p"...BEAUTIFUL tattoo.
I'm getting my first next month for my birthday. im already a bit nervous about it!

Anonymous said...

I saw Hope before I read the Bananna clue. Kim, Justin got a tattoo last week, I think I emailed it to you so check your email from today and if you didn't get one please let me know at my gmail account, I think the kids will like it. Lyn www.caringbridge.org/nj/justinw

Shiela in NY said...

Kim, I just clicked on one of the suggested links from today's post. Was beautiful, in a way, cuz it was about your tattoos and the one you had just got entitled HOPE. From your post last week I know this word means so much to you. I imagine you wish that tattoo was on a part of your body so you could look at it every day now. :(

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