My first FIL had a line tattoo of a mermaid down his calf. He got it when he was in the Navy during WWII and she shimmied when he flexes his calf muscles. She was kind of green and the lines were probably 5 or 6mm wide. When we were talking about it, he said she looked better when he first got her but time had changed her. Her lines had been black and much finer.

I didn’t really think about that when I started getting ink. But, I can see the thickening of the lines and fading colors, now. And I knew when I got my retirement tattoo that it was going to eventually lose the definition of the beginning of the Fibonacci curl as time happened to it. That was a little bit of the point (Ha!) knowing that time changes everything and that my tattoo is going to be modified as my body does what bodies do.

When I see pictures of young bodies with elaborate (expensive) new tattoos, I often wondered if they are prepared for the in evitable thickening lines and muted, uneven colors. And then I remember that when you’re 20-something you often think age (and all the changes that go with it) is something that happens to other people.

It kind of makes me sad to know those gorgeous pieces of art aren’t going to hold up to time. And then I think of the photos of elaborate geometric designs on beach sand and mandalas being swept up and remind myself that all of it is ephemeral and I go get a snack.