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Wet Noodle Posse | Blog

Sunday, April 29, 2007

My tattooed baby girl

By Norah Wilson

My second-born child, my only daughter, my baby, turned 18 this month. She’ll graduate high school with honors in June, and can’t wait to start on her liberal arts degree this fall. And all I can think is, how did it happen? How did she turn into a young woman so quickly?

She was two weeks late arriving, and weighed in at a whopping 10 lb, 3 oz (which I blame on my quitting smoking during the pregnancy). At age 18, she weighs little more than 10 times that much. She’s a committed vegan, and is passionate about the environment and the local music scene. She is tattooed and pierced and absolutely gorgeous, in my admittedly biased opinion.

Yes, my beautiful baby is tattooed. Fairly heavily, in fact. And yes, we still butt heads over it occasionally. I keep urging her to slow down; life is a long journey and she won’t be the same person tomorrow as she is today. Of course, she insists she knows what she wants on the canvass of her own body. And as she has pointed out to me when I raised the specter of health concerns, modern tattoo parlors are not the purveyors of dread diseases that we’ve been led to believe they are. Not a single case of HIV has been traced to a tattoo parlor in America, whereas 7 cases have been attributed to dental clinics. Likewise, you are far more likely to contract Hepatitis C at a dental clinic than from a tattoo (unless your get your tattoo in prison, perhaps). Thankfully, with the exception of a few modest pieces, her tattoos are discreet and private, and not for public consumption. I know that tattoos are becoming more mainstream every day, but visibly tattooed people still encounter negative reactions. I have no doubt that tattooing will eventually become so commonplace that it will no longer carry such negative or deviant connotations, but in the meantime, I’m just grateful my daughter likes to keep her body under wraps.


But what got me started on this blog post? Reading teasers for the May edition of the WetNoodlePosse ezine. Our own Dr. Debra will field a question from a mother whose daughter wants more piercings but dad isn't excited about the idea. Having been on the same hot seat as that mom a number of times, I can't wait to read Dr. Debra's advice!

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5 Comments:

At 9:02 PM, Blogger Theresa Ragan said...

LOL. This was my question for Dr. Debra and I too can't wait to see the answer!

Your daughter is beautiful Norah. Congratulations on her upcoming graduation...and with honors, no less! Woohoo!

Kids! They grow up fast and they sure like to keep us on our toes 24/7!

 
At 2:17 PM, Blogger Esri Rose said...

That's the other side of the coin when it comes to wonderful kids with strong, well-developed opinions -- they commit to stuff. Wishy washy kids like I was don't do anything permanent and thus save on laser surgery later. :D

She looks a little like Kate Hudson.

 
At 9:49 PM, Blogger Diane Gaston said...

Norah,

When my daughter turned 18 she went out with her friend, who turned 18 the week before. When she came home, I asked, "Okay, where's the Tattoo?"

She showed me....

Diane

 
At 8:40 AM, Blogger Trish Milburn said...

I must admit I'm way too big of a weinie to ever consider a tattoo, but I see them all the time. I see lots of professional young women who have on suits and heels and have small tattoos on their ankles. It's the ones who totally cover their bodies in ink that I believe are going a bit overboard, but to each his own.

 
At 12:10 PM, Blogger Theresa Ragan said...

LOL, Diane. I take it you were joking...and thus shocked when she actually showed you her tattoo!? That's hilarious!

 

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