My mum and MIL got matching tattoos - now I feel left out

"At age 70, mum decided to go for her first tatt - so the whole family is inked except me."

Melissa Noble

3 min read

August 28, 2024 - 12:56PM

Parenting

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I blame my mother-in-law. When she turned 70, she told the family she was getting a tattoo. It didn’t come as that much of a shock, because she has always been super cool and loves to push the boundaries.

Sure enough, her four kids bought her a voucher, and off she went to the tattoo parlour.

She came home with an elegant blue fairy-wren etched on her right shoulder.

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"I was in shock"

A few years later, when my own mum was turning 70, she announced that she, too, was getting a tattoo. She said my mother-in-law had inspired her and that life was short, so ‘why not?’

This time, I was in shock. I’m talking mouth-hitting-the-ground astonished. Never in a million years did I think she would actually go through with it.

Growing up, my mum was brought up to believe only the lower classes had tattoos. Her father was a navigator in the Royal Air Force during World War II and had repeatedly drummed into mum that tattoos were for sailors.

They certainly weren’t for my mother, nor for anyone else in our family for that matter, lest you wanted to face grandpa’s disapproval.

My entire life, my mum had been quite judgmental about tattoos, too. My oldest sister, who is considered the rogue in our family, decided to buck the trend and get inked at age 22.

She came home from travelling and told my mum nonchalantly one day that she’d decided to get an English rose tattooed on her butt cheek, inspired by the Englishman she was marrying.

“You didn’t, Samantha,” mum said. “I don’t believe you.” Out came the butt cheek, and there it was. Despite mum’s best efforts to try to scratch it off, the rose was there to stay, as red as mum’s anger.

Melissa and her mum. Image: Melissa Noble

"It was secretly on her bucket list"

My sister had started a trend, it seemed, and a few years later, our brother came home from Japan with a Japanese kanji symbol on his chest. “It means ‘dream’, mum,” he said, looking coy.

Mum raised an eyebrow and scolded him. “Mike, you’re an engineer, not a trolley boy,” she said.

But as the decades passed, something shifted in mum. You couldn’t call it a midlife crisis, because she was well and truly into her golden years.

Maybe she felt free of the stigma associated with tattoos when my grandparents passed away. Perhaps she wanted to rebel to mark the start of her eighth decade. Or maybe it was secretly on her bucket list the whole time and she just didn’t want to admit it.

Whatever the reason, something changed when she saw my mother-in-law sporting her vibrant blue bird tattoo at dinner parties. So, on the eve of her 70th birthday, my mum declared she was going to get inked.

Melissa's mum feeling pretty happy with herself. Image: Supplied

Mum designed the tattoo herself, taking inspiration from a dragonfly on her favourite brand of wine. She had always loved dragonflies and said they were her lucky symbol.

“They don’t live very long, but boy do they enjoy life,” she said.

On the big day, the tattoo artist warned mum that getting tattooed on her ankle might be painful. “I’ve had four children, darling,” she scoffed. “I think I’ll survive.”

Matching bird-themed tatts. Image: Supplied

Afterwards, mum showed off her ankle art to everyone. Strangers in cafes. Friends and family members at birthday parties. Even now, years later, if someone remarks about it, mum enthusiastically tells them the story of how she decided to get inked at age 70.

Pretty much everyone in our family of seven now has some kind of word or image branded for eternity on their bodies. My dad and I are the only ones who don’t have a tattoo, but I’m not ruling it out.

After all, I’m only 39. Let’s see how I feel in three decades.