In my mind I see a version of myself that is way more badass than I am. This version has brilliant scarlet hair, plaid docs on her feet, and tattoos on her arms. And while my hair is currently growing out a nice and easy shade of auburn that looked good three weeks ago, and perfect plaid docs are sitting in my closet likely to never see a sidewalk in hot and humid Florida, I do have a tattoo. Just one. So far. Badass is a work in progress.
I have plans for two more tattoos in the spring of next year. In fact I have been waiting for these tattoos for years and years. If I didn’t live through the great false positive hepatitis C scare of 2007 I probably would already have this art on my body. But I dare you to spend as much time as I did with a liver specialist and feel like you can take such chances without much, much planing.
Below, in all my freckled glory, is a photo of the tattoo that I do have. I got it in 1998 at an awesome tattoo parlor that used to be at Sunset and Vine in Hollywood. It was next door to one of my favorite bars of all times (Oh how I miss you, Jack’s Sugar Shack) and all of the artists at the parlor were also regulars at the Shack.
The image is a replica of the cover of the chalice well at Glastonbury Tor. I won’t go into all the reasons why the image is meaningful to me, but you can count on the fact that I love the mysticism and the magic. It also symbolizes one of the best summers of my life. (& wouldn’t you know it was also the summer I purchased my original plaid docs)
The chalice well story is pretty interesting as well. Some believe that the cup from the last supper is buried here. Others claim it as a powerful space for wytchcraft. I personally just feel drawn to the shape. It is a vesica piscis- two circles sharing the same radius.
Next spring I plan on getting my Grandfather’s initials on the inside of my right wrist and a labyrinth just below the chalice well tattoo on my left arm. The labyrinth has always been a powerful image for me and I would like to get one large enough that I could trace the path with my index finger.
This is the design as depicted on the floor of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco:
Have an ink story of your own? Share it so we can marvel at your awesome! Always wanted a tattoo? Tell us what you would get and where. Blog it and then share your link here. We’ll be like one long sleeve of awesome!
I too have this image of myself as some badass mom–not the mom in elastic-wasted jeans pulled up to her chest. No, no, no. We’ll see how that all turns out!
I love the Glastonbury Tor tattoo. That image is a sacred one to me, as is the labyrinth. When we recently toured the new hospital where we’re giving birth, we discovered in their “healing garden” a walkable labyrinth, and I walked it. I hope to get to walk it while in labor; there is something very birthlike about the path. Anyway, interestingly enough, I have been considering a labyrinth tatoo for many years, that and a big mother goddess tatoo. For now, I’ve got two: one on my ankle that is an elaborate triskele (triple spiral: maiden/mother/crone) and another on my shoulder with a goddess figure holding a moon with a simple triskele behind her. (Obsessed with spirals much? Me?) For some reason, I’ve saved the arm tats until I became a mom–maybe to remind myself that I’ve still got some badass to go.
Anyway, I love this post. You’re a badass mom through and through, Cali.
I’m not nearly badass. I’ve got too much damned Pollyanna in me to be badass.
I love labyrinths. There is an outdoor one here that is beautiful. It’s located at a “spirituality center”, and it may be near traffic, but it’s so isolated and peaceful there.
I love your tattoo, and your planned ones.
I have two tattoos: one is a sun/moon combination that I love love LOVE, and if I can find a picture of it, I’ll post it. The other is my wallaby tattoo.
I’ve wanted another tattoo for a long time, and know exactly what (it’s a necklace I have, actually; a celtic knot type deal in a diamond shape, with peace doves at each tip) but my OCD has stood in the way of deciding WHERE on my body to get it…
Ah, sadly I am not cool enough for a tattoo.
But I like yours.
Love the one you already have and the new one. If you could hold out a little longer, you, Kym, and I could get our tats together. What a story we could tell.
I love your tattoo! I love tattoos! The stories behind them, what they mean to the person who has them, all of it. Whenever I see someone with a tattoo, I always ask about it.
I hope you can get the tattoos you want soon. I love the Ink tour! So exciting. I have to take a picture of mine and blog about it.
*HUGS*
I love yours…very cool. I love the idea of a labyrinth tattoo.
I have a few tats, I’m getting my second one fixed in a couple of weeks (we don’t talk about that right now…), but the one I love is on the inside of my left wrist, it’s like a Chinese knot but, I altered it and the middle has a spiral in it… I did the artwork by myself and then the tat guy cleaned it up… very sacred to me.
I have always wanted a labyrinth, in fact, that was almost my first tat, but I still can’t figure out where to put it, where (like you) I could trace it, but it won’t be on a body part that I hate.
I can’t figure out what I”m going to get when we adopt(!) our daughter…
Very cool tat. I like the labyrinth idea too. Me no ink, but like to see others and read the story behind each one.
I have 4 tats and I can’t wait to get more! I recently took out my tongue ring for our kidlets birth and I forgot to put it back in so I guess I’m not the super cool mom anymore. . . I love the tat though very pretty! I’ll post pics of mine when I get a chance!
Oooo, I like that tattoo. And the labyrinth is going to look lovely too, I have always been drawn to those. And very touching about getting your grandfather’s initials.
Love your tattoo! I do not have one, I wanted this sort of celtic phoenix/bird design that I saw when I was 19 or so, but I never got around to getting a tattoo. I have a labyrinth on my keychain — it is a little metal disc that has the labyrinth from Chartres cathedral in France.
Hmm Glastonbury Tor sounds similar to the mysterious faerie hill in one of my favorite books, Outlander… love it!
the inked tour ~ love it!
i have four tattoos, and i have been itching for a new one, and will officially have a “tattoo fund” account once i start working as an RN
i may have to blog about my current ink and then about the planned ones (i have at least 3-4 more i want. addictive, much?)
i love your tattoo and cant wait to see your new ones when you get them.
I love the labyrinth idea! I’m completely obsessed with getting a tattoo. I talk about it all the time and go into excruciating detail about it at least twice a year. But I don’t have one yet. It feels like too much work right now to find the right artist, idea and spot. The idea that comes to me the most is a tree – maybe one with roots – that would be on my forearm. I could add birds to it one day if I wanted. But right now I’m afraid that I’d regret such a visible tattoo. And I’m not too interested in a hidden one. Poor confused me!
Gonna get you drunk and put “”Plaid Speed” as a sleeve on your right arm.
I love the symbolism behind your tattoo. And I love labyrinths, there is something so calming about walking a labyrinth. I, huge needle-phobic person, have no tattoos.
I’m waaaaaay into tattoos… I have three on my right arm that I got in honor of a friend I lost to brain cancer back in 2002. I did a little research at the time and have three Japanese symbols: “ghost (or spirit) on top of my R wrist, “dream” on my elbow, and “car (vehicle) on my R deltoid. The story here is that it started with “car” as she left me her antique Volvo 122S when she passed, and “dream” and “ghost” because the whole time I knew this woman I frequently had really intense, existential “meaning of life” type dreams she would star in and after she passed they continued as though I was able to communicate with her wherever she was. “Ghost” is because she is not here in vivo any more. I arranged them on my arm to symbolize the “here (life), there (the “other side”) and in between (dreamspace).” Unfortunately, I am significantly better at reading blogs than committing to writing them, so I have no icture to direct you to… If you want one, I could e-mail it though.
Love it! The detail is terrific. A great tattoo artist is worth his/her weight in gold. Love the other ideas. If you come up for BlogHer next Summer I could bring you to my guy if you want. He’s awesome! (My ink post is coming.)
BTW, you are totally badass mom!
I have two great tattoos that I love that have great meaning to me personally… One is in that traditional tramp stamp spot and is a lion carving. The other is on my right thigh and is a scene from a 70s comic book.
The third is going to be in place in the next two months. Something with a white flag, which will represent this really incredibly destructive, abusive relationship I was in that I’ve just had the courage to overcome. It is going to be really great and wonderful… I keep looking at this spot on my arm that it’s going to go on and keep dreaming about it. We are all such badasses!
I miss you… and I miss Jack’s Sugar Shack… and I miss hanging with rockabilly legend Ray Campi and that blonde actor guy you knew (wasn’t he in the Big Movie you worked on?) and Marta and Jessi and even that slutty room mate you had for a while who had the mentally challenged bengal cat. I miss the 90′s and I think I just miss being young… when getting a tattoo was a frivolous lark… and now, as I yearn for my 4th but haven’t found the right picture yet, worry about money, pain, cooties, and everything else. Is it cool to be getting more tattoos at this age? We don’t ride Harleys. We don’t even dress the part. Oh C, I miss you. XO
I like that tat. Funny I just saw a ring with that symbol on it last night.
I have a whole slew of tattoos. Both arms. Both legs. Shoulder blades, lower back, etc etc etc.
I have the Stray Cats emblem, complete with Lee Rocker’s autograph. I have a cardinal flying with a banner that says “MOM”. I have music notes, a phoenix, a koi, a shamrock, a griffin, celtic knotwork, and a naked woman.
I have a black leather jacket ala Joey Ramone that I have been wearing for 12 years. I have a hand carved wooden skull with a top hat from indonesia adorning my wall…along with pin-up girls and Buddy Holly 45′s.
Will any of this make me a bad ass mom??? Nope. What is gonna make me a bad ass mom is doing all the things you already are.
Cheers from a newish reader (who never spoke up ’til now).
Yay, tattoos! Yours is lovely – I can’t tell how big it is, but it looks like a lot of detail within a quite small tattoo.
I have some Celtic knotwork on my right shoulderblade that I got on my 18th birthday by a guy who liked to listen to Jeopardy while he tattooed. I knew I picked the right guy. I had wanted a tattoo for awhile, and thought that my birthday was the perfect time – finally an adult who could make that decision independently and all that.
I want to get a second tattoo someday when my reproductive time is over. I want to get an art nouveau-inspired piece that will incorporate the first initial(s) of my child(ren)’s name, designed by an illustrator friend of mine. I want it on my wrist, though the husband is against a) tattoos and b)wrist tattoos. Oh well, sucks to be him I guess.
On an unrelated note, sorry I have been incommunicado lately. I miss you!