ink

There's a rule somewhere that says if you get a tattoo with someone's name, or write a song about them, then you have cursed, at the very least, your relationship. Sometimes it curses a lot more than that. But I can't love someone and not memorialize them forever.

It was a stupid little thing when I decided that my first tattoo would be for my first girlfriend. She helped me pick out the design, but she didn't know it was her tattoo, not really. It was my little secret. We were 18. I guess I probably thought I'd stop there, too. But I also thought that we'd be forever.

I never told anyone the story, but the next girl had her tattoo, too. We integrated the designs. We broke up a month or two later, and I think it was about there that I decided it would be a thing. By the time I was 20 or so, I was more interested in finishing the design than anything.

Some of them lasted. Sometimes it was even sincere. But there was always something more to look forward to--I had at least until the last girl to finish the design to find someone who would last. And even then, who knows? There's always room for more, isn't there? The important thing is I'll remember all of them. It's never over so long as someone remembers.