Despite the fact that I have my tattoo in a location that is usually hidden (yes, you guessed it, the lower back), I am still very happy about my choice to get it and what it is that I got.  Maybe that is because once I made the absolute decision to get a tattoo, it took me four years before I was able to get it.  Why so long?  Well, I was trying to decide what I wanted and where would be the best place in my area to get it done.  I came to the determination that the best place wasn't near me, but rather in Hawaii where they have some of the strictest standards for safety and cleanliness in the US.  Further, I wanted a tribal style design, but I didn't know what I wanted at the time.  I just wanted it to be meaningful to me and not just something off the wall.  ..:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

So, I finally get to Hawaii and was intent on getting it done, but time didn't allow for it and I wasn't sure where to go.  Shortly after returning from that trip, I found out that I was pregnant which precluded me from getting a tattoo until I was no longer knocked up.  To prolong it, I breastfed my son for almost a year so I couldn't get ink despite our trips to Hawaii.  Finally, the time was right again, we were in Hawaii, but we never found time to go.  This was about three months after I quit breastfeeding.  And wouldn't you know it, I got pregnant again.  (We joke that my kids are Pro Bowl souvenirs since it conception coincided with our trip to the Pro Bowl.)  Consequently, I had to wait almost another two years before I could get it done. 

The wait wasn't fruitless though.  I did, in that time, decide what I wanted.  I wanted a tribal shark on my lower back.  The shark is my family amakua and I felt that I could use all the help I could get.  Eventually, I realized I wanted two sharks; one for each of my boys.  This type of a tattoo would be very significant to me and something I would be very proud of. 

Ron wanted me to get something smaller because he was worried about the size of what I wanted.  Further, he wanted me to get something more girlie like turtles on my ankle.  And while I like turtles, I don't feel connected to them in anyway and I definitely wanted the tattoo on my lower back.  Not because of its trendiness to get them their, but rather the ability to hide it at work.  The legal field is still a boys club and very conservative and I felt walking around with a tattoo in that environment would make it even more difficult for me than it already is being a cute female who looks younger than I am.  (Sorry for sounding whiny there...)

Fortunately, I scored big by contacting a lifelong friend of mine, Rod, to ask for a recommendation for where to go for my tattoo.  Rod grew up mostly in Hawaii and is the kind of guy who knows everyone and everyone likes.  It just happens that one of his best friends, Josh, is a great tattoo artist in Honolulu.  Score!!  You can check out Josh and some of his work on A Tiki Tattoo's website. 

I went to see Josh and explained what I wanted, albeit, I didn't mention about the two sharks.  He asked that I give him a little time to come up with a drawing.  Ron and I went to a bar and grabbed a Foster's Oil Can.  Yum.  When we returned, Josh had a drawing of two sharks in tribal style exactly like I was picturing in my head but couldn't put on paper.  It was amazing!  Ron did make him shrink it a little bit so it wasn't quite so large.  But he agreed that we could shrink it any more because we would lose the details.  I was happy with the size either way.  Ironically enough, a guy who was getting more color added to his sleeve remarked that it was quite large for a first tattoo.  I said I didn't think so, but anyway...

After this long and drawing out story of how I got my tattoo, brings me to what spawned my need to write this.  I think that most people being of sound mind (i.e., not drunkenly going and getting a tattoo cuz it seems like the thing to do at the time) choose a tattoo based on something that is meaningful to themselves or artistically pleasing.  But what I don't get are people who get tattoos of their own names on themselves.  I understand getting your significant other's name (something I would never do) or your children's names, but I just don't understand getting your own.  Are you afraid that you are going to die in suspicious circumstances with no ID so it is like a dog tag to have your tattoo with your name?  Is it that you value yourself above all else?  What the heck?  I just don't get it.  If someone understands it, please explain it to me because I just don't get it at all!