Memoriam in Ink

These are Dio's rear paw prints tattooed on my right foot. After Dio died, the vet took his front and back paw prints, inspiring Joe to suggest I get them as a tattoo. Whenever we were sitting down, Dio liked to back up until his rear feet rested on one of our feet. He'd look over his shoulder and meow, reminding us that this ritual meant we were to bend over and pet him. What better way to honor his memory and always have him with me than a cool little tattoo? And I literally have him with me, as I was able to have some of his ashes mixed in with the ink.

So here's the down low on foot tattoos. They hurt like hell. This is my 8th tattoo and no other tattoo came close to hurting like this. Thankfully, this is such a small and simple design, it only took about 15 minutes of needle to skin time to complete. Tattoo artists don't encourage tats on the feet because:

1. There is a much higher risk for infection.

2. You have to be diligent in the 2 week recovery period. This means you cannot wear socks, or shoes that cover the top of your foot - not even flip flops. After I got the paw prints I had to run to Target and buy a couple pair of those popular flat shoes that have the rounded toe box that only covers the toes. I think they're ugly, but I only have to wear them for 2 weeks. For running, I'll have to wear my Sprint VFF's (they look like Mary Janes). To be certain that the VFF's would not touch the paw prints, sweet guy Joe, zoomed home and brought the shoes back to the tattoo gallery so George could place the prints within the open space of the shoe.

3. The ink has been known to disappear - one day the tattoo is there, the next, half of it is just gone - POOF!

So, I hope my foot heals without incident, that I don't hurt myself running exclusively in VFF's, and that Dio's feet don't vanish from mine!