Inked after 51 years

I just did the most cliched divorced dad thing ever...and love it.

My daughters already know I love them…so why?

It was never an intentional choice to be "ink-less” my whole life.

But the more time that passed without joining the club, the more I saw myself as an endangered beast, and the last person on earth without a tattoo.

(I know for a fact, I am the only person in small-town Duncan without one, surprised I was even allowed inside its cheque-cashing-store-lined borders).

And yet. Here I am. With a new (and granted, a bit gaudy) shoulder I’m really proud of.

I do not know where this urge came from. But for weeks I obsessed about getting my daughters’ names printed on my arm. Classic divorced, distanced, dad move.

And after that, the obsessing continued about what design to choose—finally settling on a semi old-school sailor-like image; these swallows representing important things in my life, like homecoming, flight, recovery, freedom, and a bunch of other self-helpy words tagged to birds. [You’re permitted to groan].

Lily and Willa will see their names on my arm the next time I visit them in Kelowna. And what reaction am I expecting? A ticker tape parade in their mom’s kitchen? Or “let’s not go swimming today, kay dad?”

Still, no regrets.

Our whole family is tattoo-free. Except for one guy. My dad.

And no, he didn’t get it in the army decades ago, or as part of his 1950s Winnipeg gang of collar-up cool boys. He got his tattoo in the most badass way possible. A way that makes my milquetoast inking journey seem like a stagette mani-pedi session.

Don Kawchuk got his tattoo in Las Vegas. On the eve of his 80th birthday. In one of the most painful places to needle. He arrived home from his business convention to surprise my mom in an act of love. Yes, I’ll say it again. Total badass.

The world’s first Vegas tattoo that wasn’t a drunken mistake

So every time I wonder if I’m too old to get a tattoo, I look at his picture. And don’t feel as aged or predictable as I think.

Don’s tattoo might be cooler, more subtle, and done in a different context—but hey, we both have our loved ones stuck on our skin forever. And in a way, that bonds us a little closer too.