Renewing a tattoo
*By SHONNA MILLIKEN HUMPHREY, The New York Times… It’s exactly like that… Very good article.
“SINCE tattoo shops were illegal in South Carolina, where I was living at the time, I drove to Savannah, Ga., to get my first ink. I was 22, drunk on Jack Daniels, and I chose the image from a display at the shop based on what I could afford. Thirty dollars bought me a tiny black flower. Brash and audacious, I lifted my skirt and hopped onto the table.
I can’t remember the name of the boy who offered to hold my hand, but he was the baby of the group, each of them smooth-faced, pretty and vacuous — all swagger and ridiculously transparent. It was almost embarrassing to be with them. Almost, because I knew that unlike my tattoo, they were temporary.
“Wow” and “Cool,” each of them said upon seeing it.
Conventional wisdom suggested I’d regret every aspect of the decision because tattoos are permanent, and mine was the most permanent thing in my immediate life. Stability felt like cement to me then, and not long after I got the tattoo I bought a little truck and vowed never to own more than I could pack in its bed. Because I craved motion, I structured my life as a transient.”
Continue reading in http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/16/fashion/16Modern.html?_r=1&ref=modernlove
