Sigh.
This is the story of my wife’s tattoo. One that makes it a little difficult for me to lay down the law about body modifications for my girls!!!
Of course, the one good thing I can point out about the small outline pattern of dolphins on the back of her neck: she got it when she was thirty. And out of her parents’ house!
Once, when she was in high school, she came home with a fake ‘too on her arm. Her mother told her, “that better be a fake one, or I’m getting out the Brillo pad!” She was dead set against tattoos, which of course were at the time illegal in most states. And all my wife’s family knew her and her mother very well, that she was the rebel, the one who constantly challenged her parents.
So when she finally did the deed, to celebrate the big Three-Oh, everyone had the same two questions for her:
“Is it real?” and “Does your mother know?”
For several months, the answers were “yes” and “no.” It was easy enough for her to keep it covered; it was small and inconspicuous (and yes it hurt). My wife, the tremendous planner, thought about where she wanted it for a long time before getting it done – not so much for hiding it from her mother, but because she figured that that part of the neck would not stretch! Keeping it from Mom was just a fringe benefit.
Finally, several months after the ’too, my nephew ratted her out.
He was all of about five years old then, and still got piggy-back rides from his aunt. And it was a warm fall day at the Botanic Gardens that both he and my mother-in-law found out about the tattoo. There he was on top of my wife’s shoulders, romping through the gardens, when he saw it, and shouted out, “ Is THAT a TA-TOO-OOOH????!
My mother-in-law almost knocked him off my wife’s shoulders to see it. She was shocked, of course, but by then, my wife was far too old for the Brillo pad.
What did she say? “Well, as long as your husband approves there’s nothing I can do…” Spoken like a pure traditionalist!
Of course, I was not too thrilled by my wife’s willingness to inflict wounds upon her body for some artwork that she can’t even see, but I’m hanging onto that tiny bit of authority so that I can exercise it on the two certain little girls who live in my house….