My Natural Tattoo

I was born with a birth mark on my right wrist. I remember it used to be my cheat sheet for right hand versus left hand growing up. We used to have this morning drills in school and the chant would be - ‘show me your right hand, show me your left hand’ and all I had to do was look at my wrist. Talk about having an ordained cheat sheet. We also used to have competitions that would involve march pasts and you guessed right, right wrist to the rescue.

Over time I have gotten accustomed to people asking if this was a cute tattoo I got and I go ‘hell yeah, bad ass right’. It’s shaped like a triangle aligned to my thumb and I am always keen on showing it off to anyone who cared to look.

I was going to get a tattoo when I got much older: I weighed many options; dragon on the back, butterfly on the inner wrist, nothing on my face though. I asked a few friends and family for suggestions. Didn’t ask my parents, I have their answer by default.

I had researched the average pain level of getting a tattoo, multiplied it with my pain tolerance level and divided it by the average number of hours it takes to get a similar tattoo I was going to get. It would be a cute love sign on my middle finger, so that when I flip, I flip with love albeit small. Talk about irony.

On that fateful day, I set out to the tattoo parlor, swallowed the most effective pain reliever I could find. Got there, exchanged pleasantries, sat on the chair, took one last look around at the machinery disguised as tools that would be at work in the next few minutes. I was shown the picture again to confirm what I wanted and I replied, ‘Hell yeah’, again still being bad ass.

Finger disinfected and cleaned, all it took was the first drill and I ran as fast as my legs could carry me, with them at the back of my head. All I have to tell this tale is a small dot, matching another small birth mark dot on my left wrist. I didn’t get the courage to finish that tattoo but I’m glad I have my triangular birth mark that still works. Maybe I don’t need a tattoo after all, my body is a forest of birth marks.

I plan to go back with reinforcements, maybe I can get my husband to agree to a similar one on the same finger or maybe our ring fingers. I've always thought the idea was cute. Or get our kids’ initial tattooed on our ring fingers. So many ideas, if only I could get past my idea of the pain. Speaking of pain, I‘ve gone through the pain of childbirth twice. Almost near-death experiences, getting a tattoo wouldn’t be that much more painful, Would it, can it?

Musings aside, I plan to execute one or more of the above ideas as an anniversary experience. When; I don’t know, If; I may come back to tell you. One thing any painful experience has taught me is that you get your biggest and brightest rainbow after. I’m going to get my successful tattoo experience and I hope I come back to write about how it went. In line with the above is also going bald and starting my natural hair journey from scratch, wish me luck!

Ironically, my son was born with an identical birth mark on his left wrist, if you were doubtful about being unique, there goes your answer!