Tattoo #4

Yep, I got yet another tattoo. This one was on Sunday, and it's in my new main picture. A MySpace friend asked in a comment whether I felt lucky. And I do, but that's not actually the point of the tattoo. It's a 4-leaf clover in honor of my late grandmother. She was a real character. She died in 2003 at the age of 89, and we all miss her terribly. One of her particular "things" was that she could find 4-leaf clovers. It was a gift. Seriously, if there was a patch of clover growing in a lawn somewhere, she could look through it and find the 4-leaf ones every time. Over the years when I was living in various places around the world, and she was still in England, she would send me letters and include a couple of clovers that she had found and pressed. That was to bring me good luck.

My family had been kicking around the idea that we would all get a matching tattoo for a while. It was my youngest brother's idea originally; he wanted mom, me, and both brothers to get a matching design. Of course, I also wanted A and T to be part of it, particularly since they're actually old enough. The hold out was mom for a long time. Then on the day when I got my wrist tattoo (Instant Karma ~ that one has a name), mom surprised everyone including herself and got a cute little ladbug tattoo on the inside of her left ankle. And as a lot of people with tattoos will tell you, once you have your first, it's easier to get another (kind of like . . . well, I'm not going to go to the bad place while I'm talking about my mother).

Anyway, once mom had her first, she was more on board with getting another. At T's birthday tattooing, the idea of the 4-leaf clover was first presented and it went over well. It was agreed on that day (February 3) that we'd all get the tattoo before A left for Job Corps. Well on February 5, we got the call that she'd be leaving on February 20 (yesterday, and I'm still absorbing which is why I haven't blogged about it yet; I will soon). So the timetable was set. D and K (his girl, but my de facto sister-in-law) arranged with LM, the amazingly talented artist at their shop, for a mass tattooing, and the deed was done on Sunday morning.

Mom went first and got the design on the inside of her left forearm, between the wrist and the elbow. She's so badass, my mom. No flinching, very British stiff upper lip and all. I did distract her by telling her stories and giving her dark chocolate dipped Altoids. She agrees with me (and T) that the candy helps take your mind off the pain. I went next, and you can see where mine is. Then A on her left bicep . Then T on his left shoulderblade between 2 of his other tattoos. Then K on the outside of her left calf, and then D in the same place (they're so cute). Finally my youngest brother, L, got his in a very similar place to mine, but his is above the collarbone where mine is below. We all got them on our left side because "left is lucky."

All 7 were done in about 3-1/2 hours or so. D did the stencil which was an outline, and then LM free-handed all the shading. The man is really good. He works quickly, which isn't always a great thing in a man, but it's wonderful in a tattoo artist. He's also exceptionally light-handed which is also really a great quality in a tattoo artist.

So there you have it, the story of tattoo #4. Her name is Olive which was my grandmother's name.

CURRENTLY READING: Portrait in Death by J. D. Robb