this post courtesy of a "miami ink" marathon...

so i'm thinking of getting a new tattoo...

a brief introduction: i got my first tattoo when i was 23. i'd thought of getting a tattoo for several years, and had leaned a while toward crossed oars (from my rowing days in college). only, once i was done with college i wasn't rowing anymore, and a crossed-oars tattoo seemed the equivalent of a 23-year old getting his greek letters nostalgically etched on his biceps. which sounds pretty lame to me...

so once i really got serious about really getting a real tattoo, i did some research into celtic knots. because my heritage is scottish, and i wanted something meaningful - and something different. in the end, i found a pattern from an ancient textile that i drew into a band. and while it doesn't actually "mean" anything, it means something to me...

and so i got a tattoo. located the band above my right biceps - in just the perfect position that it can be hidden if i don't want it to be seen. which is exactly what i did for 9 years...

yep. i hid my tattoo for nine years. not to the entire world, mind you. but i did keep it hidden from my parents. because i was scared to death of how they would react, what they would say, how disappointed they might be in me. i had countless nightmares about their discovery of the tattoo, i wore long sleeves around them alot. i was an adult afraid of his parents...

and then one night, the night of my brother's bachelor party, my dad and i were sharing a bottle of fine whiskey. and in a bit of a drunken stupor, i just told him. let it fly. dad, i've got a tattoo. and his reaction - almost none. no anger, no disappointment. he took it right in stride...

so i'm thinking about getting another. probably right above the first. and i'll mull this decision over until i settle on an idea or a design that just makes me do it. i'd like to do something for ian - without being overtly about ian. something that always reminds me of the little life for which i am responsible and a love that is irrepressible and inate...

right now, i have no real ideas. maybe something celtic again. not his name - that'd be overt. i'm open for suggestions. and once i find something that feels right, i'll probably head down to colfax and sit in the tattoo chair and take on the pain for a life-long "blemish." and this time i won't be so afraid of anyone finding out...

although it will be even easier to hide.