so my students and i are discussing tattoos today. i love tattoos. i have three. they really are addicting.
i got my first tattoo three years ago. i was spending a few days with my friend, kim, in upstate NY. so we ended up at a tattoo place...she to get a belly button ring. i had wanted a tattoo for years but could never get up the nerve. then i saw a huge display of designs and, on impulse, went for it.
at the time, lawrence and i were in complete turmoil. the marriage was heading south fast, and i was clinging hard to both my faith and an eternal hope that i would not end up divorced. so i chose a chinese character that (the guy said) meant "faithful." (i later went online and was able to verify that it did mean that, as opposed to 'stupid white woman gets tattoo') i got the tattoo above my right breast. it hardly hurt at all...
my next tattoo was one i thought long and hard about. i even came up with my own design. it was a cross with my girls' names in it. when i took the design to the tattoo artist, though, he said that the only way i could get that design was if he enlarged it HUGE so that the words would not bleed together... so i rethought my plan. i ended up with a celtic cross on my right shoulder.
my third tattoo also involved a trip to a tattoo place with a friend. dawn wanted a tattoo on her foot. i had seen designs online that i really liked called ambigrams. they are designs that have words going in both directions... i chose one that says 'faith' one way and 'hope' the other. it runs down my spine, next to the cross.
all three of my tattoos are about my jebus-ness. i consider them an outward expression of my internal feelings. i want more, too. tattoos really are addictive. i still want one that incorporates my daugthers' names. i also want one with my favorite bible verse: “Where your treasure lies, there will your heart be also” – Matthew 6:21
so that's the story with my tattoos. they are a big part of me.....you don't have to like them, but know that i do!!!
i got my first tattoo three years ago. i was spending a few days with my friend, kim, in upstate NY. so we ended up at a tattoo place...she to get a belly button ring. i had wanted a tattoo for years but could never get up the nerve. then i saw a huge display of designs and, on impulse, went for it.
at the time, lawrence and i were in complete turmoil. the marriage was heading south fast, and i was clinging hard to both my faith and an eternal hope that i would not end up divorced. so i chose a chinese character that (the guy said) meant "faithful." (i later went online and was able to verify that it did mean that, as opposed to 'stupid white woman gets tattoo') i got the tattoo above my right breast. it hardly hurt at all...
my next tattoo was one i thought long and hard about. i even came up with my own design. it was a cross with my girls' names in it. when i took the design to the tattoo artist, though, he said that the only way i could get that design was if he enlarged it HUGE so that the words would not bleed together... so i rethought my plan. i ended up with a celtic cross on my right shoulder.
my third tattoo also involved a trip to a tattoo place with a friend. dawn wanted a tattoo on her foot. i had seen designs online that i really liked called ambigrams. they are designs that have words going in both directions... i chose one that says 'faith' one way and 'hope' the other. it runs down my spine, next to the cross.
all three of my tattoos are about my jebus-ness. i consider them an outward expression of my internal feelings. i want more, too. tattoos really are addictive. i still want one that incorporates my daugthers' names. i also want one with my favorite bible verse: “Where your treasure lies, there will your heart be also” – Matthew 6:21
so that's the story with my tattoos. they are a big part of me.....you don't have to like them, but know that i do!!!
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