Tattoo

I've been thinking about a tattoo for a long time. I first got the idea into my head when I was on crutches, in the Army, in language school, working out each day with one of the SF guys in my class. My arms were starting to tone pretty nicely, and I thought it could be neat to get one of those arm bands. Then I remembered that tattoos are permanent and when I'm an old lady with flappy skin, that tattoo is going to look really silly. So I didn't do it, and the idea went away.
Then I met Nick and we stared dating, and occasionally he'd harass me about getting a tattoo. My response was always "No, they're permanent." But it did get me to thinking. I knew immediately I didn't want to get a rainbow, star or Tinkerbell on my ankle. I didn't want anything cliche. If I were to get a tattoo, I'd want it to be symbolic--Something I'd be happy having on my body forever.
I thought a Celtic knot could be cool. (I was thinking about something along that theme when I thought about the armband.) It would be a nod to my heritage, my English, Irish, and Scottish ancestry. So I contacted an artist friend of mine, Bobbie, (also on deviantART) and asked her to draw something up for me. I wanted a Celtic knot, with Heather flowers worked into it.

Bobbie's drawing for my tattoo.

After I got the picture from Bobbie, I tried contacting a tattoo place in town, but they took to long getting back to me. So I stopped by a tattoo place in the next town; they set up an appointment for a week later (I don't know why they couldn't do it right away).
Last Saturday I went to my appointment, and received my tattoo. It hurt. It hurt a lot. I didn't cry, but I sure did complain and whimper, and I cussed a little bit.

Brian working on my tattoo.

My tattoo while it was getting worked on.

Basically, they took a copy of Bobbie's image, and put it on carbon paper. Then they applied the carbon paper onto my body, and traced it with the tattoo needle. The process took about 45 minutes. After he was done he cleaned the ink off, bandaged it up, and sent me on my way with an instruction sheet. The next day, Nick removed the bandage and cleaned it off for me. The antibacterial soap made the wound sting. The tattoo scabbed over along the ink lines, it itched some for a few days, and now it has pretty much healed up.

So now I have a permanent image on my right shoulder, but I'm very happy with it, and it is something I feel I can relate to for the rest of my life. I'm thinking about getting color added, eventually, but I haven't decided the coloring will be yet.