Memory-Keepsake-Gift…
Two years ago while in Panama City 
on vacation … my Granddaughter who was then sixteen… wanted to get a tattoo 
…
Of course Mom and Dad said, ” No”… and used the phrase so many parents do with teens… “When you are 18!… Then you don’t have to have our permission” ...
I listened to their conversation and made a promise 
that I would get one with her when she turned 18… I was then 62…
I love the art in tattoos… Not all of the things depicted… but, a pretty butterfly
… a cute frog
… flowers 
… special sentiments… Not all over your body!… then you can’t see the details of any of them…
Just something pretty…
but, then “Pretty” to me is not what all of us see…
I like to paint and draw 
… so there is something in them that I connect with…
Last summer we didn’t go on vacation with the family and I get a telephone call 
from Taylor…
“Grandma“… I hear her precious voice say…
Before she said another word I said, “I know!…you got a tattoo!”…
“How did you know?”, she says… worried that I would be disappointed…
Because if I was a teen and my parents said “OK”… and I was at the beach… I would have done the same thing…
She had been saving her money 
from her job she works after school and on weekends…
She was 17 and is quite mature…
We talked about what she got and she texted me a picture of it…
It was very tasteful… and the verse was “her” … “She flies with her own wings!”… My independent… take care of myself little girl…
So when she turned 18 last Tuesday… a week before… she asked me, “Are you still going to get a tattoo with me?”…
I said, “Pick the place, time and date… and pick me up”…
and so on her birthday we went to get the design I had chosen…
This was the first drawing…
She wanted one just like mine… she called it, “Grandma/Granddaughter” tattoo…
Was I not honored!…
We went to “Tattoo Charlie’s” … the best known Tattoo parlor in Louisville… the most popular place to get one… Do they still call them that?…. a parlor???
They give you a post card and $10.00 off your next tattoo…a balm to apply for a week…and “Pike’s” business card…who did my tattoo…
They were exceptional in all areas…
from greeting and talking to us…
cleanliness and safety…
friendliness…
quick service…
Great Results!…
being discrete…
They can’t take away the pain… because it does hurt a little
… but, not anything we couldn’t stand…
Nice conversation from our “Artist”, Pike… who definitely is an art person who has perfected his trade…
I asked many questions… since I actually had thought of the trade for myself at one time…
Very interesting… the competitiveness he described…
I left thinking…”I really did it!”…
The writing on upper right corner is just on the photo…for me to remember the date…although I won’t forget!
“Pike” tattooing my shoulder…”OUCH!”…
and Taylor just saying, “It hurt more than I remembered”…
This was a “bucket list” item for me…
and probably just the beginning of adventures for my girl… because …
“She flies with her own wings!” 
from Terry… a fellow blogger I have been following lately… You usually have to tell a few things about yourself… This was my inspiration…
