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April 7, 2007

What on earth is wrong with Deb?

a. She is blowing ladybugs out her ears


b. Nothing a little fiber wouldn't help


c. Her father made her get a tattoo and that thang HURTED

Well, wonder no more, the rumors are true. Kim, Randy and Matthew came up this past weekend (more about that later) and while they were here, we jogged over to Cape Girardeau and got a tattoo. It started as a "wouldn't it be cool if we had a family tattoo" conversation over dinner on Saturday. Uh, yah. Sure would. Eli even contributed the idea - how about the last name Codding cut into puzzle pieces and each had a puzzle piece tattooed? Shear genius. Minor discussion on Sunday again except this time I put my foot down. NO PUZZLE PIECE. Monday came around to find me still in my pajamas talking to my dad about what time we were leaving for Cape. Cape? You remember, to get the tattoos. Ohhhhhh you mean you are not kidding? Gulp. I seem to remember that 22 years ago, tattoos hurt. A lot.

I did some quick checking and got recommendations for a shop in Cape called "A Different Drummer" and we loaded up the car. Seth went with us to make sure nobody cried. We had pow wowed about the design when I picked them all up and had settled on a Chinese symbol for "peace". Each of us decided to do something different with it. I must say that I am only half joking when I say my dad made us do it. Each one of us had already intended to get a tattoo at some point. I was supposed to have done it on my 40th birthday but that turned out to be the busiest year of my life. Then it just became a procrastination game. I have always wanted a tattoo across my lower back (all y'all non tattooed folks can't understand this, I know. You've told me).

Anyway, the shop was neat as a pin and the guys there very nice. We quickly picked out our individual things and just like on Miami Ink, the guys tailored them to what we wanted. I am not sure why, but I was elected to go first, Kim, dad and Seth watching. Actually, Seth was so into it, he announced that when he got big, he was going to own that shop. He was glued to the tattoo artist's side (Chris Rose, shop owner) almost the entire time. Every once in awhile he would come around and look under my arms to ask if I was okay and inquire whether it was hurting. I didn't cry, I didn't wiggle and I didn't make girly noises. I did however, do every scrap of childbirth breathing I knew how to do (and trust me, with three kids and thirteen years of labor and delivery nursing, that is A LOT). The outlining was so intensely painful that I was actually grateful when he got to the shading. Did I mention that my tattoo is 98% outlining? It was over and permanent thirty minutes later. I totally love it.

Dad actually decided once mine got going that he would do his at the same time. A nice young man, Michael, did dad's second armband (he got the first one in Florida last year). His tattoo took at least twice as long as mine did even though they are almost the same size. I was glad my guy was very fast. We joked about watching Miami Ink (love that Kat!), Chris, who did my tattoo said he cringes over that show. I understand this fully - I cringe over childbirth shows and actively yell at the tv. My children do not allow me to watch them because of this. Michael, however, said he liked the show and wanted to go get Kat to tattoo his nipples hot pink. Yeowch, but hey, that would be way cool. While we were talking, two very cute coeds (Southeast Missouri is right there) came in. When asked if they were getting tattooed or pierced they got all antsy and evasive. Hmmmm, interesting. The shop owner came over and, talking at once, they indicated that one of the girl's nipple rings had become infected and embedded and "could you please help her get both of them out". Dad's tattooist rolled his eyes and said - "he gets to do all the fun stuff". The hotties disappeared and later reappeared much happier campers. Oh and dad didn't cry about his tattoo at all.

Kim was last. She had just gotten her first tattoo two weeks ago to celebrate her 22nd wedding anniversary. She wiggled and whimpered a lot according to her husband and daughter who each got tattoos at the same time. Two weeks is NOT enough time to put the pain behind you. She was an eensy bit nervous. She chose to put her symbol into a heart (her last name is Hart) which will later become part of a cascading heart tattoo that she and her daughter will be getting. To her relief, the tattoo was easier to deal with this time (hers is mostly shading which doesn't go as deep) and went the fastest of us all.

We left the tattoo shop giddy with what we had done (permanent! no going back! family unity!). My tattoo has pretty much healed - it feels like a sunburn. I am still very happy with it and have no regrets. I will not be getting another one. Click on my picture above to see the tattoo adventure.

This post has gotten long but I have tons more to tell. Look for another post in a few days. I will let this one marinate for awhile.

Posted by DebC at 2:20 PM | Comments (1)