The Middle Aged Lady with the Dragonfly Tattoo.

Despite being the person who personally disliked tattoos all my life, (see #63) I just got my 1st tattoo in honor of my upcoming 44th birthday. 44. The age my dad was when he passed away.

A reminder to make every day count.

dragonfly tattoos

This is midlife. Three childhood best friends. Three dragonfly tattoos.

Earlier this year I was chatting with my dearest Linda and she made a comment about getting a tattoo to celebrate a certain milestone in her life. And when I asked what she wanted, she said a dragonfly. DRAGONFLY? How have I known Linda ALMOST MY ENTIRE LIFE and not realize she wanted a dragonfly tattoo?! When she showed me the one she was thinking, IT WAS THE SAME ONE I WAS THINKING. Unreal.

Of course this was the perfect opportunity for our dearest Joey to say “we should all get dragonfly tattoos when I come home for Christmas this year.” Joey, unlike Linda Lu and myself—already has a tattoo from long ago. Linda and I are tattoo virgins. Turns out Joey wanted a dragonfly to commemorate huge changes in her life as well. The dragonfly has been a spiritual symbol for all three of us, for all different reasons. Say no more, appointments booked at True Blue Tattoo in Fredonia.

I got mine on my upper back/lower neck area. Despite thinking this is where I wanted it since, originally thinking about getting a tattoo, I had decided once we made the appointment that if I planned on getting a tattoo, I wanted it as a reminder and someplace I could see it every day, so I went with my wrist instead. And then two days before, once I really started thinking about getting it done—I had doubts. Not about getting a tattoo, just which location I wanted.

Linda was getting the same tattoo, on her right wrist.

Joey was getting a different dragonfly tattoo, on her right wrist/middle arm.

I was getting a tattoo—

Um. On my wrist. On my neck? On my wrist? Neck? WRISTNECKWRISTNECK. And no, I wasn’t nervous about the tattoo, I just honestly couldn’t decide, either would be fine. What ended up happening is I started thinking about the NEXT tattoo I wanted, and that one I would want on my left wrist (I think…) so if my imaginary 2nd tattoo would be there, my imaginary 1st one would be neck, right?

Up until about an hour before I still wasn’t sure. Joey and I wandered around a shop in Fredonia before the appointment and I saw a dragonfly necklace. I picked it up (it was ugly as heck and the only dragonfly in the entire store) and heard the word NECKlace. BAM. Neck. Decided. Didn’t look back.

Linda went first. (Brave girl!) I went 2nd and could NOT believe that it didn’t hurt. I described it as “tickling” a weird odd, scratching but not even a little bit painful (to my surprise.) And it only took maybe 15 minutes. But about 12 minutes in, I got really light-headed and asked for a break. NO IDEA why, like I said it wasn’t painful. Perhaps adrenaline rush, blood sugar spike/drop? Perhaps my body, which was already in the stages of starting to get sick rebelled at the last-minute? Anyhow, I needed a quick breather. Next time, bring juice and get inked on a full stomach and not before a cold is coming on.

Dragonflies everywhere.

Now, let me tell you about my NEXT tattoo idea… 🙂

Also love these ladies so…