and it was one thing i never, ever, evereverever envisioned myself doing. but, whaddayaknow, i up and got a tattoo last month, and i am already designing my next one. my tattooed friends and co-workers were right when they said that once you get one, you can't stop!
it all started back in january when my boyfriend and i were in costa rica visiting a friend. we were closing out a two week adventure with a two night stay in montezuma, a really hippie-dippie beachside town on the west coast of the country. while sipping a couple of pilsens, listening to terrible reggaeton and people watching, my gaze became fixated on a group of guys sitting on the benches at the table in front of ours who were absolutely covered in tattoos. i mean, their skin was completely lathered with ink, mal'ahk from the lost symbol style.
"that is so WEIRD," i said out loud.
"what?" asked jordan and justin.
"do you see all those tattoos on those guys? i mean, what are they, crazy? i would never do that."
welp, three or so months later, i find myself eating my words. delicious words at that. i got a tattoo, and i just LOVE it.
while we were talking, i surmised that i might want to get something one day, but i would have to think about it so that it would be something that was meaningful, mature, and not a cartoon character on my lower back, a fairy, or any type of tribal symbol/asian lettering. since i consider myself classy and soft-spoken, i definitely wanted a tatto to match (read: no ex-lover's names scrawled along my arm).
suddenly, very suddenly, i was struck with my tattoo idea. simple, small, and hidden, it would not be in everyone's face (i'm thinking of my grandmother giving me the stink-eye if, say, on my wedding day, she happened to catch a glimpse of some kind of inky design peeping out from behind a strap). a tattoo is very personal business, as i discovered while watching an entire season of "l.a. ink" to psych myself up.
and so i came up with the perfect little tattoo for myself. i thought of the musical symbol of a fermata.
when you come across one written above a note in a piece of music, you are to hold the note out for longer than its written value. i like what the fermata means symbolically, though: when i see it on my body every day it reminds me to be still, to hold on, to absorb what is around me and to take a moment to breathe for a little bit longer than i might normally let myself do. fermatas are signs for flexibility, for serenity, for composure. and aesthetically they are simple but beautiful!
mine sits on my right hip, about the size of a silver dollar. you can't see it unless i show it to you, so it's not in your face. it's just for me, and i like it that way.
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