Pai Ink..

 

Around 10 years ago WildFlower began on her journey towards getting inked for the first time. And whilst at many times throughout my life I've seen works of art on people's skin that I've been deeply impressed by, I carry around with me a deep abiding fear of ink on skin; I'm not kidding, if you pull out a pen in front of me and start writing on the back of your hand I'm gonna scream at you. So needless to say the idea of having ink permanently lodged beneath my skin is not my idea of a good time. I fought WildFlower on this issue for many years hoping to stave off her getting one (I mean honestly, you wouldn't doodle on the Mona Lisa now would you?) but as with any good marriage, in the end, the wife always wins.

  
In 2010, after three and a half years of unsuccessfully attempting to make a baby and a doctor finally saying that it was unlikely to ever happen for us, WildFlower decided to get the tatt she'd been putting off for all those years. WildFlower sat with our good friend Lady Punks and they drew up a beautiful design and then after being on a waiting list for over a year she got in with an amazing Sydney artist who rejigged the design to make it work as a tatt. Then she took the step I'd been dreading for all those years, she booked in the appointment. 

The weeks passed until we were just days away from Tatt Day. I tried pretty much anything I could think of to convince her out of it but as this had been on her heart for close to a decade I knew deep down that all attempts were pretty futile. I was bracing myself for a lifetime of having my teeth set on edge at the sight of the horrors of ink on skin, but then, just three days out, we caught a glimpse of God's sense of humor.

Around 2pm on a sunny Sydney afternoon a very excited nurse called to tell me some news; WildFlower was pregnant with our first child. I remember that moment like it was yesterday. And unless you know the pains of infertility it's hard to imagine just how full of joy that day was for us! And in that state of bliss it hardly mattered to either of us that the human body is much more likely to reject tatoo ink when you're pregnant or breastfeeding and so tatt day needed to be postponed.. indefinitely.

  
Fast forward two very life changing years later and we're returning to Australia with our daughter from living in India so we could be a part of my sisters wedding. It's only a short trip of 3 or so weeks but WildFlower decides she wants to pick up where she left off and get the tattoo done so is running around making the necessary arrangements. The date is set, the plans are made and any attempts to dissuade the inevitable are met with white hot force. So there we are, the week of Tatt day, sitting in a doctor's office getting WildFlower's newly broken toe attended to when the doctor turned to us with another piece of life changing news; baby number 2 was already 7 weeks along the way. Tatt day was once again postponed.. Woo!

Jump forward to 2014 and we're again back in Australia visiting family and friends and no prizes for guessing that WildFlower is back on the trail of getting herself inked. But this time we are sharing a very real fear that history might repeat itself! Both times we'd gotten to within a week of the tatt day and had to call it off due to a new found pregnancy and as we'd not had more than 3 hours of unbroken sleep in the 12 months since our son was born we were definitely not in the head space to add baby number 3 into the mix.

We proceeded through the weeks "with much caution" and finally the day came when WildFlower left the house with clear shoulders and returned home with a sweeping design across her upper arms and back. And even more to my surprise, I kinda liked it.

I've heard too many times to count that getting tatts becomes like an addiction, and knowing my dear wifey I knew it wouldn't be long before the conversations around the dinner table turned to the next design. And sure enough, no more than a few weeks passed before I found her secretly sketching away in her books and comparing designs on Pinterest. Which now brings us to the present. 

Around a month back WildFlower sat down in Go Kui Tattoo Studios here in Pai and went under the needle. The design is gorgeous and wraps around her forearm and the text is lifted from a passage of our Scriptures that speaks of the abiding joy in God's inexhaustible worth; something which has become so very important to us in the past couple of years. WildFlower walked out excited and keen to show off her latest work of art to me and thaaaaankfully I found myself pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it, but it didn't take long for something strange to happen.. her body began to reject the ink.

To begin with we were simply concerned with getting the affected areas retouched. We spoke to the artist was more than happy to oblige and as you can see from the image below the completed tatt is incredible! But then the pieces began to fall into place. The dots began to connect. The neon signs began blinking along the side of the highway. Our history with Tattoo cancellations.. her body rejecting the ink.. God's sense of humor.. It all finally made sense.


 

But were we wrong. Sorry Nikki & Joni, no new nephew or niece this time round. And whilst adding another member to our tribe is not out of the question, right now we're trying to focus on refilling our sleep bank which has been officially declared bankrupt and so embarking upon another bout of sleepless nights, well, a cold chill runs along my spin just thinking about it.  

So for now I get to just sit here and write this post, share a few photos, and enjoy a few quite moments whilst my kids colour in pictures with their friends in the next room. All the while I'm knowing that at any given moment those sinister colouring-in pens are going to slide right off the edge of the page and hurtle towards their their skin at breakneck speeds, leaving behind them a inky wreckage trail of blues and reds and greens across Caucasian skin. Ergh! Now I need a bath.