Should I or shouldn't I...

I often think that I want to get a tattoo, but then I think about all the reasons that I don't want to get a tattoo:  1) it's painful and I'm a wuss about pain; 2) it's permanent so I'd have to be really, really, really, really sure about what I want to get tattooed on me; and 3) I don't want to look trashy (yes, I know that I shouldn't be judgemental).  I've been thinking about this a little more than usual, because it's almost time for my drumming group to make our annual trip to Wiawaka Holiday House, a women's retreat center on Lake George, to teach a drumming workshop.  Last summer we met Molly, a young woman who was staying there with her Mom and her Aunt.  At lunch, the discussion at our table turned to Molly's tattoos.  She was very knowledgeable about the various artistic styles, and it was very interesting to hear her talk about famous tattoo artists, and why she had chosen the various designs she'd had tattooed.  The most interesting thing that she said was that her relationship to her body completely changed once she painted it.  That was the exact phrase she used, and it really struck me because I've never thought of tattooing as "painting" your body.  I often think of applying makeup as painting my face, and I wear makeup because I think it makes me look prettier.  I had never thought of getting a tattoo to make my body prettier, though.  I'm sorry to admit that I generally think the only way to make my body prettier is to lose the excess weight that I am carrying around.  I think that I would decide to get a tattoo to mark a significant event, not just to decorate my body, but I'm sure that I would chose a design because I thought it was beautiful.  Definitely no skulls or scary-looking things for me!  I still haven't decided whether I will ever get a tattoo, but if I do, my decision will have been informed by a casual discussion with a young woman that I will probably never see again, and who will never know the ways that conversation has made me think about tattoos, art and body image.