I did a thing. A permanent thing: my first (and likely only) tattoo. I've kind of wanted a tattoo for decades, but really couldn't figure out what I wanted - something meaningful to me. In 2018, when we went to Great Basin National Park, we met a woman out hiking who had a paw print tattoo on her calf. We asked her about it and she said it was from her dog, now gone, but she'd gotten it done while he was still alive because it was a good memory for her, remembering getting him to step on the inkpad and all that. We thought that was a really cool idea.
Since Milton is The Best Dog Ever, I decided that I would finally get that tattoo: his actual paw print of his right front (spotted) foot. H had to help me get the print because Milt didn't like to step on the inkpad or walk on the paper we'd taped to the mudroom floor. We finally got a number of prints - and I was glad I'd gone with washable ink because we ended up with paw prints all over the mudroom and garage floors.
I dropped the print off at Tiger Claw Tattoo in SLC for artist Charity, who is a good friend of some good friends of ours. The studio specializes in Asian-style tattoos (her hand-drawn chrysanthemums are amazing) but they are willing to branch out. On August 6, I went in for my appointment. She made a stencil which we moved a couple of times for placement. I was at Tiger Claw for just under two hours, including prep, installation and chatting afterwards about care. The needle wasn't particularly pleasant but it only really hurt a couple of time when she must have hit a nerve.
For two weeks I had to moisturize the tattoo several times a day and keep it out of the sun as much as possible (hence the do-it-yourself leg sleeve I made for hiking and biking). It healed really well and I love it (thanks again, Charity!!). And just this morning, while I was walking M, another dog walker complimented me on it - and then proudly showed me his tattoo of his dog. I'm part of the tribe, y'all.
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