The Leen

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Sometimes, I surprise myself, which I did the other night, when I did something that I didn’t think I’d ever do.

I got a tattoo.

I know, right? Me? A tattoo???

Believe it or not, the evidence is below.

Our friends Graham and Emily are friends with a guy named Chuck, who is a traveling tattoo artist and long-time friend of Graham’s. Chuck is in town visiting Graham, and he brought all of his gear. Graham and Emily and Chuck came over for dinner on Thursday night, and once we’d finished eating our potato soup and beer bread and put Elanor to bed, Chuck got out his kit.

A few hours before everyone arrived, Brett said — jokingly, I thought — that we should get matching tattoos.

I laughed him off at first, but then I realized he was serious. And a little part of me thought, “Okay…maybe we should.”

And before I knew it, Brett was getting the tattoo he’d planned on getting, followed by the one we’d both talked about getting.

And then it was my turn.

Yikes.

I was a little freaked out, but I kept telling myself that if I’d had almost 24 hours of unmedicated labor, I could stand 10 minutes of pain from a tattoo.

And I did it!

We both got little hearts on our left inner arms. They’re modeled after the hearts in Super Mario Brothers 2…cheesy, I know. It’s not that game has any kind of special significance for us; I always liked how those little hearts looked.

Cheesy though it may be, I really like how it turned out. I had a few OMG-what-did-I-just-do moments the next day, but I really am pleased with it and glad I got it.

And without further ado, here are the pics. (Pardon my hair. Ugh! It looks ridiculous. I had had it pulled back all day and took the clips out while I was putting Elanor to bed, so it looks…uh…not great.) And I don’t have a pic of Brett’s heart, but it’s the same as mine and in the same spot.

Brett getting his first tattoo of the night

Brett’s first tattoo of the evening: the outline of a medium-format film negative

Yikes!

Finished product!

While I know I’ll never have full tattoo sleeves or anything, I am already planning my next tattoo. If you’d have told me that a year ago, I wouldn’t have believed you. I guess it just goes to show how people change in unexpected ways over time.