Life, Love and Paper Towels

I am often told that I am so lucky to be in a relationship with a tattoo artist; it must be awesome being tattooed for free and whenever I want to.  Questions and statements like; It must be so exciting living with an artist or How are you not covered in tattoos yet?

What most people don’t realize is that like any relationship; being in love with a tattoo artist has its challenges.

How often do you hear how lucky you are for dating an Accountant or an Insurance Salesman? You don’t, because what can either of those offer you? Financial advice perhaps, which in my opinion is a very important quality to be able to call on; but most people see this as a boring quality.

Good Old Sailor Jerry

What many people don’t realize, while you’re wondering about how wild our lives must be is that as a couple, we’re pretty much just like you.

Yes, this is a bit of a girly, personal post – but I think that it is high time that someone address this topic, so this is from my point of view and maybe at the detriment of the mystique surrounding tattoo artists, dispel the myth that WAG’s (wives and girlfriends) live it up.

You might think that I can get tattooed whenever I want to; but what you need to remember is that just like anyone else wanting to be tattooed, I need to make an appointment; if he doesn’t have time to tattoo me, I can’t get tattooed.  Yes, I do get tattooed by my partner for free, but as a collector; I don’t want to limit my body art to one artist and just because I am associated with this guy, that isn’t going to pay the bills of other artists that I approach.

While you and your family are enjoying some well-deserved time on the weekends together, my family has to sacrifice that time because my Tattoo Artist Boyfriend works on the weekend.  When we do have the opportunity to spend time together, we’re usually plagued with people contacting him to enquire about their design/tattoo/appointment, etc. and you cannot understand just how irritating the clickidy clack of a touch screen is during a romantic dinner.

While you can plan a holiday away at the end of the year for your family; we usually need to see if there is a studio nearby that my significant other could have a guest spot at; because if he isn’t working, he isn’t earning.

My partner works long hours and often only gets home late in the evening; leaving our son very little time with him to just hang out and have that father/son time that all kids really love; and don’t even mention how often our son is already asleep before he gets home.

Despite this, we take it in our stride; we understand that there are sacrifices that need to be made in order for him to excel at his chosen profession, which he loves and I support that whole-heartedly. I get that he works late hours and that complete strangers monopolise his time; I understand that he needs to draw up designs until late in the evening and that I’ll be called to give my opinion on them every time.

I know that he eats his dinner cold because he is so hungry and that he sometimes falls asleep on the couch because he is so tired. I know that we’ll have a home filled with prints just itching to be framed and I know that every single shopping trip I do, includes buying paper towelling.  I know that when he does have time off, that he just wants to chill with his family and that is alright by me.

So the next time you think that I am so lucky to be dating a tattoo artist, I will agree! I am, but not for the reasons that you might think; but because he is awesome and we really like each other. To risk sounding like a Cosmopolitan article, dare I say that anyone who can be in a serious relationship with a tattoo artist and survive is lucky and that is simply because we really do have a tough time at it.  Then again, I am sure that being in a relationship with anyone, regardless of their profession; has its own set of challenges as well.

As always, feedback is welcome!

~The Tattooed Lady