Pain Don't Hurt

It took me almost a month to complete the cycle, but I did it.

It started as a far-fetched idea that my brother and Becky dreamed up. I never would have dreamed I would actually agree to it, let alone follow through. But I am a man of my word (most of the time), and I knew I couldn't let them down in our moment of BONDING.

I got the ink.

I know all you non-believers out there didn't believe me for a second when I said I was going to get a tattoo, but I was determined to finish what I had started. I said I was going to do it, and by golly I did it.

I woke up Saturday morning with the urge to go and get the "tat." We drove to Mystic Ink in Seymour (which I highly recommend...very clean, and comfortable) and after about a 10 minute wait, I was up.

I described a "4 inch by 4 inch" shamrock design that I wanted on my right calf. But the tattoo artist had other plans.

"No, man, you want that much bigger...you have a big calf, and you want it to fit the whole thing."

"Um...ok," I said.

He proceeded to blow up my design to about a 6 inch by 6 inch monster tattoo. Hey, he's the artist, I guess he knows what he's talking about. After a few minutes of prep, I entered the tattoo room.

"How many tattoos do you have?" he asked as I tried to figure out how I was going to lay across the tattoo chair.

"This is my first," I said. The tattoo man looked over to his protege, a young kid who was looking from behind a half door, and said, "Ever seen a grown man cry?"

I finally was able to wrangle myself onto the chair, after having almost knocking it over once, and having kicked the tattoo guy two or three times. I layed face first in the chair and closed my eyes as the needle began to purr.

The outline of the shamrock wasn't very painful. It was the color that hurt like the dickens.

I decided to put the colors of Ireland's flag in the shamrock, green on the left (a symbol of the Catholic people), Orange on the right (A symbol of the Protestant people), and white in the middle (a symbol of peace between the two.)

When the color began, it felt as if the needle were plunged into my calf, and a circular "joystick" motion was being used to drive that sucker deep into my leg. Waves of pain radiated throughout my body, but after about 90 seconds or so, my calf went numb, and the pain wasn't intense at all.

After what seemed like an hour, but which was only about 5-7 minutes, he stopped. I thought the whole thing was over. Then Becky looked down and reported:

"Ok, he's about finished with the green..." My mouth dropped almost as much as my spirit. Only one color finished?

Damn...

Double Damn...

He started in on the orange with the same joystick motion. Argh...the pain!! Then, the 90 second window of pain closed, and he was able to complete the orange with relatively no pain. The white was the easiest, because the numbness of the other two colors pretty well numbed the middle. I was home free.

In total, it took about 40 minutes to complete. He applied some stuff, and wrapped my leg in saran wrap. Blood trickled from the wrap, and collected on my sock. I felt like Curt Schilling in the World Series.

It's Monday now, and the tat's still a little tender, but I know in a week or so, it will be good to go. I'm glad we were able to bond...maybe next time, we can bond through something that requires a little less pain...bowling maybe.