INK

some old and some new

... And then I found myself in the chair at "Susuin Ink" on Tuesday of this week. Mark and Dale were by my side, distracting me with small talk. The center figures in the tattoo, arms raised in worship on either side of the cross was installed in my skin in early '04. (Jacqui has the same design on her back and sat in the same chair immediately after me on this Tuesday. She winced, cried perhaps(?) but was an AWESOME subject without flinching or moving. GO GIRL!!). The artist/technician is a man named Auric Goldfingers. Like me, he is a follower of Christ, not to mention just being a way cooool guy and EXCELLENT tattoo-er.

The process took 3 hours as he went over over the "old" ink and added the NEW EMBELLISHED DESIGN also. The experience involves more than just physical pain. There is a release of endorphins which is described as:

["Any of a group of peptide hormones that bind to opiate receptors and are found mainly in the brain. Endorphins reduce the sensation of pain and affect emotions"]

Along with the pain, came a strange intoxication of the senses, a euphoria that is unlike anything I've ever experienced. The dictionary describes euphoria, "a feeling of well being, esp. an exaggerated one having no basis in truth or reality". So, there's this guy with a needle, maybe even a group of needles very close to each other moving in and out of your skin VERY rapidly feeling as if someone is cutting you with a knife... but you feel HAPPY, perhaps a little LOOPY. You still feel the pain but now it's different, like getting socked in the stomach. ( Did you lose air and gasp for breath? Of course you did... Now put a couple of pillows over your stomach and take another shot into you solar-plexes. Still hurts a little, but you didn't lose your air.)

For me, it is a crucifixtion of my flesh, a passage to a greater understanding that my mind and more importantly the Spirit in me has a much greater power over that flesh of mine.

I can also describe it as a "marker" to some. It defines a time in your life by putting an exclamation point on it. A time you can look back on and remember each element of that period in your life in vivid, crystal detail.

I've been told that each person is different in how they react to the experience. Each tattoo has it's own story. What is/was yours?... Why would or wouldn't you ever do this? Please comment and we'll talk...