Tattoo Books

by Gary Pearson

My friend Candy and I decided on my eighteenth birthday, that we were going to go and get a tattoo in honor of our adulthood. Candy knew exactly what kind of tattoo she wanted, but I was undecided. Tigger had been her favorite character for ever, and she wanted to be reminded of him permanently. I somehow didn’t believe that a child-like image of Tigger was the correct way to celebrate adulthood, but hey, that’s Candy! I wanted to make sure that if I was going to be permanently marked for life, it had to be by something meaningful. I didn’t know what, but maybe something that said “this is me”. We arrived at our local tattoo parlor an hour early, to look through the tattoo books, there were stacks, and I was hoping that by searching the tattoo books I would find what I wanted.

There were some really scary numbers in the first tattoo books I looked through, and in my wildest imagination, I couldn’t imagine who would want any of these. What I really needed was something a little feminine, and I really believed that I would find something in the tattoo books. I was going to wear the tattoo on my ankle, and it was going to be there for ever, and be representative of me.

For the first 30 minutes, I thumbed through pages of hideous tattoos as well as really brilliant ones. Still, nothing jumped out at me and said “Pick me.” I was feeling incredibly discouraged. One of the tattoo artists joined me in my search, asking me tons of questions about what I liked and my beliefs. Finally, after trying to explain who I was for 5 minutes, he stood up and dug through some of the tattoo books that I have not yet had the opportunity to look through. He flipped through several pages as well until he smiled. He brought it over to me and pointed. I smiled as well.

He showed me a small rainbow colored dolphin, it was attractive and dainty. It was what I was looking for, I am an artist and I felt that the colors and the dolphin were both representative of the kind of person I was. I loved dolphins and the ocean, I set down the other tattoo books and nodding to him, I realized I had found my perfect tattoo.

Last weekend, I helped another friend of mine look through tattoo books for something that would be perfect for her. She had the same pains of finding something that I’d had. After she’d found what she wanted, I sat there and glanced through the tattoo books for the sole purpose of passing time. In the very first of the tattoo books that I opened, I smiled. Here we go again! My friend and I walked out of the tattoo parlor a few hours later, with smiles on both of our faces. If you’re planning on getting a tattoo, consider yourself warned, sometimes those stacks of tattoo books can be rather addictive.

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