I’ll begin with a story: It was two weeks after my 18th birthday and amidst my last semester of high school finals, when I was feeling a bit spontaneous. I was technically an adult, and was expecting to feel like one from the day that I turned 18, but there was nothing there. I still felt like the same little 14-year-old girl who had started high school four years earlier. I wanted to feel like an adult, and buying lottery tickets was just not enough for me. I did not have class that day due to finals and I was determined. I woke up that morning wanting a tattoo, and I went to bed with one engraved onto my rib cage. I called all of the local tattoo parlors, but appointments were booked two weeks out. I needed to get it that day, I could not wait two weeks. I finally came across a tattoo parlor that would be able to fit me in that evening. My mom and I got in the car and drove 30 minutes to solidify my adult status. The tattoo took less than 15 minutes and was cheap, but I got what I wanted. I felt like an adult and I obsessed over this cool new thing that would forever be on my body.
It wasn’t until a couple weeks later that I realized that this piece of art was permanent. I will admit, I did not put much thought into the tattoo that I wanted, but it’s on my body. I have accepted that this tattoo will be with me as I grow older. At that point in time, the tattoo had no meaning to me. It was something that I thought was pretty and wanted to be on my body, not something that I had a strong tie to. As a reader, you are probably thinking: what an idiot. Yes, it was stupid of me to rush into this tattoo, but I cannot take back my spontaneous decision that I am sure that plenty of newly 18-year-olds commonly make.
Here’s where the title of my article may seem misleading. My tattoo may have not had meaning when it was getting placed on my body, but it has plenty of meaning to me now, two years later. It has been a process, but I am more in love with my tattoo today than I was when I got it. This experience taught me that maybe spur of the moment tattoos aren't initially meant to have meaning, maybe they gain meaning as time goes on. I remember my tattoo when meeting new people, my tattoo is a constant symbol of each member of my family, I can see my grandmother and her passion in my tattoo, and I know that I will continue to find more meanings behind this simple lotus flower on my rib cage.
So here is my plug for spontaneity: Do it! Take that opportunity to do something that makes you happy. If it is meant to be, you will find your reasoning behind it later. Please be careful where you are getting your tattoo done, but be spontaneous. It is quite exhilarating and a found memory to look back on. You’ll find the meaning behind why you did what you did and what exactly you did as you continue to grow up.
