Do you guys remember the Blondie comic strip? Blondie's husband Dagwood would make huge sandwiches to eat between meals. They were much bigger than any human could consume. He would cram nearly everything in the kitchen between 2 slices of bread and top it with an olive on a toothpick.
These past few days have reminded me a lot of a Dagwood sandwich, with me as the middle and my family as the bread. Let me explain. On one hand, I have my parents--they are both post retirement seniors, though neither is hardly idle. On the other hand, I have the youngsters of the family--carefree and careless. I seem to always be caught in between.
Last night, we were out on the town--Miami. My daughters (22, and nearly 18) had decided to get henna tattoos. Henna tattoos are temporary and last for about 3 weeks. The girls have been talking about them for a couple of years. So, when we passed the kiosk, they stopped and browsed all of the designs. They both found ones that they liked. I didn't give it passing thoughts. I figured that it could be worse, they could be contemplating permanent tattoos. So, I wasn't surprised when they excused themselves from dinner as soon as they were done and headed back to get the henna. Everyone else lingered at the table--talking, laughing, having dessert. When we were ready, we headed outside to the kiosk.
My dad took his seat on a bench, scowling. The girls were getting the tattoos. The rest of the family wandered about the area. My dad couldn't understand why they would get that "junk (henna)." He wanted me to forbid it. I spent a lot of time explaining that this is the kind of thing that young folks do and I didn't have a problem with it. In between expressing his disapproval, he did his fair share of people watching. I pointed out young folks with colored hair, rings in their tongues and eyebrows, and designs cut into their hair.
The tattoos came out cute! The oldest ended up getting 2. I should have gotten 1 too. Dad would have croaked.
Your comments--priceless!!
I got one of those tattoos a couple of years ago and mine lasted like 3 months. It was pretty cool.
I have found our parents' generation tend to be more intolerant of tattoos/earrings, etc than us or the generations after us. Both my parents have passed, but my husband's parents in their 80s are still living. They have more definite opinions against these things to the point where my 19 y/o son got a tattoo on the flesh right under his elbow, he had to make sure grandma/grandpa didn't see it if he wouldn't want their disapproval. I tell him (son) if he wants a tattoo, so be it, he waited until he was over 18; I didn't want him to have one before then. Buthe's an adult and paid for it himself. Its his body; I might not have chosen one there, but he did so he'll have to deal with it down the road if companies don't want to hire him if the dress code is a short-sleeve shirt and no visible tattoos.
I have heard of henna tattoos; so glad your daughters decided to give it a try
betty
While your dad might not admit it, a temporary tattoo is MUCH better to deal with than a permanent one.
Temporary changes are usually fun experimentation. Let the kids live.
I get more annoyed with boys that cannot get their pants up to their rear ends than tattoos.
I guess everyone has something that irks them.