Do Something Every Day That Scares You (A Little!)

Today we’ll discuss another survival strategy that can help you through a deployment. To keep from stagnating at home, I encourage the staying-stateside- spouse to do something new. Something a little bit scary. Something that shakes the cobwebs out of the adrenaline system in your body. Ah, herein lies the rub, people! I have, indeed, come to realize that since I write this blog and suggest survival tactics, I should be willing to take my sometimes dubious advice, as well, and blog about it for your reading enjoyment. As the LOL Cat says, “I cannot brain today. I have the dumb.” This is also my excuse for taking my own advice. Sigh…

To take this advice I had to figure out something that scares me. Driving fast around a track in a car that I love? Been there, done that! Jumping out of a “perfectly good airplane,” as my Dad says? Hey! Let’s not get hasty! That scares me a LOT! Not a little. Asking someone to marry me? Holy Crap!! Scariest thing I’ve EVER done. Thank goodness he said “Yes.” Going to the dentist and listening to that awful drill? Yeah, that has promise. It’s scary and makes my ears whine. Going to the doctor for a flu shot? Yup, needles also freak me the heck out. Seeing blood, especially my own? Yup, the “eeeek-plop!” faint factor’s pretty high there, too. So, how do I combine all of these? By getting a tattoo with my friend Dani, of course, silly people!

We had planned to get tattoos together after a wedding in July in Vegas, but time and references might have been an issue, so we looked into doing them together in Tampa while I was visiting. And, serendipity was with us, the tattoo parlor with the best recommendations is called the Las Vegas Tattoo Company. Cool, huh? Nothing like the universe pointing a neon sign at a place for you, huh? It’s a great place filled with wonderful people, and again the universe gave us an artist named Fish to put a picture of an aquatic mammal on a chick named Seal. (He even offered to add a shark eating the seal on my arm if this marriage didn’t work out in the future. Very sporting of him I thought!) He did a great job customizing both Dani’s and my artwork and has a great sense of humor and a gentle bedside manner. They created beautiful floral scrollwork for her arm using bright colors and she ended up with what she wanted: something girlie! She’s a tough chica and went first. To her credit, she didn’t even do a swan-dive off the barber chair like yours truly, so she couldn’t earn the same high marks for a great landing. (Remember, I’m trying to take my own advice in order to report back to y’all. So, in my defense, I was just combining some former survival tactics we’ve discussed. Changing the paint…on my body + changing my surroundings to shore up my dopamine stores + doing something that scares me, just a little. It worked. Dopamine, adrenaline. Box checked!) Her tattoo looks beautiful on her, is within regs because it will be under her uniform, and is, indeed, very girlie. And, I hope I earned my keep by telling stories to distract her while she was poked a gazillion times with tiny little needles. In the past I’ve been invited to tattoo places by other friends, as well, to keep their minds off the pain and heat. Ah, perhaps a new job is on my horizon: tattoo entertainer/distractionist. Hmm, maybe a bit too small of a niche market. If you hear of any openings, though, let me know. I’ll keep you posted on the job hunt.

For those of you who have never frequented a tattoo parlor, they’re not nearly as scary as you might think. The artists do what they do because they love it. Fish and I discussed the palette and canvas we each use in our respective arts. Neither of us can draw using pencil and paper, but he creates masterpieces using ink and bodies, while I craft my costume art using fabric and patterns. His specialty is photo realism which came in handy when I asked him to create a very real seal on my arm. One cartoon character on my body is enough. I wanted something realistic. The point of this tattoo was to put it where I could see it. I already have one…behind me. I forget about it for months at a time, until he (Tig-ger) sneaks up on me in the mirror once in a while. So, I thought to myself, why go through the pain of the tattoo if I’m not going to be able to look at it as much as I want? Note to self: count the number of nerves in a given body part BEFORE submitting to the needles, you maroon! Turns out, one’s forearm is full of them. Owww! Plop! Swoon! Who knew?!

I was told I was very polite about swooning. I told Fish he might want to put down the needle as I was going to pass out and, very promptly, did. Apparently, I slid down the front of the barber chair, to land upright with my legs beneath me. I didn’t even lose my gum. Now, there’s talent, people!! I woke up from a great dream with Dani holding one hand and Pat trying to keep my inked arm away from my clothes. Really, who wears white pants to a tattoo place? Umm... anyway. I told Pat that I dreamt we were all on one of the scuba diving boats with my legs trailing in the warm ocean – to which he replied, “Definitely not one of the dives we’ve been on together! During our first dive together, the ocean was 57 degrees.” True! But, I liked my dream. Anyway, after my swan dive, Fish arranged a chaise lounge so I could keep some blood in my head during the next couple of hours. Some students of mine would be convinced I passed out due to lack of a heart! I’m not sure they’d be wrong.

In the end, both Dani and I got what we wanted. We’re happy with our new tattoos and I have been able to battle-test some more of the deployment survival strategies to my satisfaction. I’m glad I now have a totally cute seal on my arm that I can look at every time I want to and think of my husband. Turns out both the seal and my husband are participating in Mustache March. I think my seal is going to win! But seriously, as I tell him, I’m still glad he said “yes” to my proposal. And, thank god his name is Seal and not Elephant or Dinosaur, as I don’t think I could have handled that much ink!