the backstory of my tattoos. I have always been a little bit extreme I may not look it but if you look closely, really get to know me you’ll see that I’m more cutting edge then the normal middle-aged white dude. I like tattoos, Rap and Tobacca.   I can’t wait to get another and another and another but like many things in life as a parent I put off what I want to spend money on my kiddos but in five or six years the kids will have moved on and I will have given myself a giant raise. I have a tattoo on my ankle it is my fraternity letters and below it  says Honor First this is my least favorite tattoo it has absolutely no significance to me except for the fact that it was my first tattoo and I realized how much I liked getting tattoos.  The next tattoo that marked my body was a band on my arm that has my wife and kids names on it and whenever I had another kid I’d add another name. The thought that my family, my most cherished procession is always on my body.  That thought warms me.  Now the  cross tattoo. I have a very strong faith though I may not attend church all the time I was raised in a Lutheran church with my mother and a Southern Baptist church with my father and church has always been a big part of my life I get goosebumps talking about it.  And I believe unless you’re cold the only time you get goosebumps is when something that means something to you takes place or else why would you have them.  So the design of the tattoo now looking back in retrospect it would’ve just had four nails instead of all of the many nails it has but it’s nails representing the nails that went to Jesus’s feet and into his wrists and the thorn are the thorn crown that they put on his head.  My family tattoo is my favorite just because what it represents but the one that I think looks the coolest is the cross now I’m just waiting for the inspiration the right idea to come along and I’ll get my next tattoo which will probably be on my back or my left shoulder but it has to be in a place that I can hide it if needed. The business world seems to frown upon tattoos.  But when the rock star chef takes off and I’m no longer dependent on other people’s rules look out a beard and tattoos not trashy white but classy cool.  Like the dude from the voice.  Adam I can’t remember his last name……Levine. He reminds me of me I think he looks like me of course I’m older than him so I can say that. And I dig chicks with tattoos maybe it’s the naughtiness of them that you’re “not supposed” to get one. My son has been asking for a tattoo for a long time probably since he was 12 or so he’s a big-time wrestler and a lot of the older wrestlers high school boys have tattoos.  Well we decided when he turned 16 if you kept pushing the issue we would help them get it. My oldest daughter Mia also wanted a tattoo but she asked after Riley did. So we wouldn’t allow her to get a tattoo before him. Squirrel. I remember when Mia wanted to get her belly button pierced whoa.  When she first asked she asked her mother and her mother careful they came and talk to me about it.  As a conservative dad my first thought was no effing way. But then I thought she’s a great girl very respectful gets great grades does just what we ask her to do.  I thought will this cause her to be any less of a perfect kid so on her 15th birthday we took her to get her belly button pierced or mother did.  With dad’s blessing.  So legally you have to be 16 years old to get a tattoo in Virginia. So on August 28 Riley’s birthday we took Mia and Riley and they both got tattoos.  They both really thought out what they wanted that was a requirement making sure they knew that they would have this on their body for the rest of their lives. Dad learned from his fraternity tattoo that you don’t get a tattoo unless you really want it and it’s really what you want.   Mia’s was quick she wanted six blackbirds on her rib cage representing the Starcher six that’s what we call our family.  The lead bird is me the dad. Riley always a mama’s boy pick a cross with his mother’s name written on it. Also on his rib cage and by the way this is the most painful spot for a tattoo.  So they laid on the tables almost head-to-head both of them my two first kids getting ink but on their body that represented their family and I was proud.  Mia’s was done in about an hour and Riley’s took three hours. It was the most painful thing he had ever been through. But he is a tough little guy and when you really want something the challenge the pain is worth it. They both turned out beautiful and they both added to the perfection of my kids.  So that is all the tattoos we have on our body on our family. Riley and Dad have crosses and eventually of the girls will to get the blackbirds.  Having grown up in a broken home the closeness of my family is paramount and I am so grateful for that.