Brevity by Dan Thompson for February 21, 2020

Never mind how permanent tattoos are.

“Brevity” on the forearm and the date on the upper arm had me looking for the copyright notice and signature.

There was a waitress at one of my regular lunch sites who got a new tattoo about every 6 or 8 weeks. I once told her I lunch there just to check out her tats. She got a big laugh out of that. Each of tattoos had an explanation or story of part of her life. Fascinating. She finished art school and is an artist now.

True love may fade away, but a tattoo is forever.

What “cool” tattoo would you have got when you were much younger that you might be a little embarrassed about today?

Don’t believe him, Karen! It’s totally you.

My husband has a thing about tattoos. Our soon to be ex-daughter-in-law tattooed the names and birthdays of her three kids on her arm and my husband wondered if she needed to do that because she would forget them otherwise. He never said that to her, thank goodness.

Freak! Karen needs a bitch slap!

Many many years ago when my life was full of unexpected actions a jail guard told me, “If you are looking into a life of crime, do NOT get a tattoo as the government was starting a data base of tattoo’s”. Good advice. Now I’m a docile old man who finds the concept of lawbreaking unacceptable, still got a clean skin.

He probably should be committed.

Jimmy Buffett calls tattoos permanent reminders of a temporary feeling.

I’m old. Back in my day, tattoos were only for sailors and carnival workers.

I accept that times (and tastes) change, but seeing a teenage girl with a ‘tramp stamp’ saddens me.

Reminded of a well-tattooed and -pierced patient John Patterson (For Better or For Worse) was preparing Novocain for, only to be told, “I’m afraid of needles.”