What about YOU?

Tattoos aren’t scary anymore! Tattoos are everywhere I look- from professional athletes to my barista or bistro server. Young adults have embraced tattoos as a form of self-expression, so getting a tattoo has rapidly become about as normal as having pierced ears. According to a senior homecare service, more than one in three young adults has a tattoo. (My own young adult children do not, however!) Perhaps that’s why more and more seniors are starting to ask,

Why should kids have all the fun?

I’m ready to have tattoo fun…I think. Perhaps not a sleeve, but a smallish whimsical design would make me feel zesty.

According to The Washington Post , there are lots of golden agers like me who are ready to get some ink. The Post article featured a lovely photo show: Creating Body Art on Older Canvases. Body art on my wrinkled canvas may be too much for me. Am I feeling a late mid-life crisis? Maybe not- as one tattoo artist said ,

Sometimes, a life event has freed a person to get inked.

“I had a woman, she was 87,” the artist recalled. “She looked like your grandma, or your great-grandma, like a little old lady, but she was a daredevil. She had gone over Niagara Falls in a barrel. She said she promised her mother she wouldn’t get a tattoo till [her mother] was dead, and now she was doing it.”

If you want old, how about tattoos that are 2,500 years old? They were found on the mummified body of a Siberian princess. The colorful body artwork is seen as the best preserved and most elaborate ancient tattoos anywhere in the world. They are similar to modern-day tattoos. I really liked hers.

I’d rather get a tattoo than go over Niagara Falls in a barrel, so what’s stopping me? Here are my YES reasons for getting a tattoo:

• I’d like something positive and affirming that I could see on myself everyday.
• I’ve always liked to be a teeny bit different.
• At this point in my life, I don’t have to worry about job interviews, or any rules my employer might have, or what my parents would think!

And here are my NO Reasons:

• PAIN!
• Lots of PAIN! 
• I’ve read that older skin may be more fragile, not as elastic, and prone to bruising. I should start with something simple that won’t take many sessions to complete. There is a plus side to having older skin though- young people have to worry about what their tattoos will look like as they age and their skin droops. If you’re skin is all ready saggy- no worries!
• I haven’t figured out my design yet. Guess it’s time to check out Pinterest- lots of design boards there!

I have include this photo of my husband and me, to show you my counter-cultural side. We went to a fun throwback to the 1970’s party. We could both use a tattoo, right? (The party was a fundraiser put on by the NBA Cleveland Cavaliers. Bonus points if you know who the former Cavs player is, standing behind us. And yes, we are standing too!)

Late October is a spooky time of year. I hope I haven’t scared you too much. So, should I get a tattoo? Would you get a tattoo? If you all ready have a tattoo- I’d love to see it.