Thoughts on Tattoos

On Tattoos

I got into a fight with my mother. I got into a fight with my mother at the kitchen table. I got into a fight with my mother one night while trying to study for a bio midterm at the kitchen table. I got into a fight with my mother on a Thursday night while trying to study for a bio midterm at the kitchen table because I told her I wanted a tattoo. I got into a fight with my mother on a Thursday night in October while trying to study for a bio midterm because I told her I wanted a tattoo of a hot air balloon right next to the scar on my left wrist. She screamed, I screamed, she didn’t understand, I failed my bio midterm. I didn’t explain why and she went to bed without setting an alarm for the next morning. I didn’t explain that a hot air balloon is not just a hot air balloon. A hot air balloon is a reminder that while my body is not armor, it is mine.