Inked.

I am no longer an Ink Virgin. Last week I went to Fluid Ink, a tattoo parlour in St. Paul, and got my first, and most likely last, tattoo. Yep, this ol' gal got inked! Did it hurt? Hell ya, it hurt like mad. I cringed and had my eyes closed tightly the whole time. Another girl having a tattoo on her foot told me she thought I was sleeping I was holding so still.

When it was finished, Benny our fabulous tattoo artist said something like "it wasn't that bad was it?"

I eyed him with my eyebrows up and said "well, it didn't hurt as bad as getting a tooth filled without Novocaine, but..."

He was horrified and complained quite loudly "oh no, now you are comparing me to the drill."

Well, honest, it is a drill isn't it? It is an instrument to drill ink into one's skin, right?

Now Benny, you see, is tattooed from head to toe, so of course he has built up some kind of weird immunity to the pain of a tattoo. My daughter Kacie also had three tattoos prior to this "inking." She sat there like a pro getting hers done, on her inside wrist, can you say ouch?

What and where is the tattoo you may ask? Well, it's a beautiful rendition of our beloved Keiko, and he is now forever smiling at me from my left ankle. Kacie and I got matching tattoos. Our good friend Katie who also shares our love of Keiko, drew the design, and it is WONDERFUL. Photos of our tattoos and the original sketch are interspersed here, and our tattoos are identical to the original sketch. Thank you Benny for your masterful use of that tattoo drill, it is gorgeous.



My hubby Jerry, also was inked for the first time that same evening. He got our ghost hunting group's logo "SIM" tattooed on his right forearm underside. It is cool.

And so my first inking was a success. It is a beautiful tattoo, itching now like crazy and I can't scratch it. Sigh. Beauty is painful isn't it?