Ink

I was reading this really awesome blog (Hi Amy!!) and came upon a post she had made regarding tattoos and the indescribable want to have one. She, like me, has had a long-standing relationship between the want/need to have a tattoo and real life getting in the way sometimes. Not only that, but she's got a wicked cool sense of humor and is just down-right awesome so go, run. . .follow her blog! www.accidentalmusings.com <---on a side note, how do I get this link clickable?

I've always wanted to get something meaningful and 'deep' and something that spoke to who I really was deep down inside. Back in my early twenties and even a bit in my teens it was because I wanted to appear 'hip' or cool even. I played around with the idea of a flower, frog, butterfly or some kind of smiling thing (yes, roll your eyes, back then flowers, butterflies and frogs even were 'deep' for me in that hippie kinda way). It was always lack of funds (or even at first parental consent) that kept me from getting inked.

It got to be that whatever reason kept me from actually getting the ink actually talked me out of doing it all together when I did have the money. Then it became a thing of pain. I don't like needles and I don't like pain. In fact, I live a good deal of my life in it so I try to avoid needless pain whenever I can. But every so often the thought of actually getting a tattoo creeps back into my thoughts and I start the inner dialogue of going through with it.

Thankfully, my tastes have advanced in terms of what I want to get put on my body permanently. I've tried to have a zen/Buddhist approach to my life as I've gotten older and dealt with issues more pressing than what party to go to or who said what about who. Let's face it, since my teens and early twenties I've been through more than most people go through a lifetime. I'd really like something to remind me to breathe and take a step back and look, listen, absorb before reacting.

I mean, breathe, right. . . the Chinese Symbol for breathe. What better reminder than that? But my irrational inner voice tells me 'But Allyson, what if they tell you it's breathe but it really means something like Kung Pao Chicken?. Then they're all going to laugh at you.' So the inner-voice talked me out of that idea. So lately I've been toying around with the Buddhist symbol 'om'. Basically the same premise as the Chinese symbol for breathe and is a common chant when centering ones self during meditation. I am presently debating if I want to add the lotus with the symbol. Though I suspect maybe this is another stall tactic that I'm doing to avoid the pain. I mean. . .I could just get OM then add the lotus if I felt so inclined.

So Amy, an open invitation: if you're ever in my area of PA or if I'm ever in your neck of the woods in MD, come drag my ass out and we'll get inked together. =)