5 Tattoos Max!!!

Every where I turn people have tattoos. At work, at my kids school, at amusement parks on the train. It's so common place that your surgeon or lawyer or kids teacher may have a face tattoo at some point and that may be the norm. 

Growing up in the eighties tattoos were basically for sailors on tv and bad people.  Neither of my parents had tattoos nor anyone on their age range. But somehow the family members within ten years of me began getting tattoos. And then my friends began getting tattoos. 

So when I was 21, my 19 year old sister and I decided to get tattoos. We went to a popular tattoo spot on Crown Heights. They had a constant flow of customers. People basically chose something from a large photo portfolio of tattoos and it was engraved in ink onto their bodies. 

My sister decided to get a tribal band around her arm, something that she had seen in the portfolio.  I wanted my whole name, 5 most names in all,wrapped around like a band on my left thigh. When I was told they could not do that, I opted for two hearts with flowers around it. It also included my first and last name.

Most of the tattoos my friends and I got at the time were rebellious in nature and pretty immature. Something that defined our adolescent lives. 

Fast forward to motherhood. My kids have only seen me with a marked thigh. At one point my daughter tried to scratch it off. When she was three she remarked that she wanted a tattoo of tinker bell on her cheek. Now tattoos are acceptable and common. I even got a tattoo that I thought was more thoughtful in the thirties. It was between my shoulder blades and was of a sunset with three birds in it. The three birds represent Bob Marley's song Three Little Birds. Which to me was a reminder that everything will be alright. But I can't see it and when people see it some are unsure of what it is. 

At seven my daughter looked at an athlete who had tattoos all over his body and all the way up his neck.

She said "He has too many tattoos and it makes him looks dirty. 

I said to her "You told me that when you grow up you want a tattoo."

She replied "Yes but that is too many." 

Then I asked "What is the maximum amount of tattoos that someone can have before they are too many."

She said, "5, more that 5 is too much".