Symbolizing Bond

[Doom Cookie]

For graduation my mother and I got a mother/daughter tattoo. We've been talking about getting one for years, and we finally got one. Same exact tattoo, same spot, only difference: hers says my name, mine says mom. Both say 5-30-10

But now, days later. Hers is pealing really badly and she's going to need it touched up next time she's up here and the guy can touch it up. Mine, is just fine. And I already know that there's no difference in how they're being taken care of cause I'm taking care of hers and mine. I already have two really good and well taken care of tattoos, and the way I've taken care of ours is no different. So I'm over here busting my balls trying to figure out what the hell I am doing wrong, because my mother is obviously really pissed off at me.

I don't know what to do. I don't know how to deal with this. She's lashing out at me as if I've permanently scared her. As if I've punched her in the face and told her she's the worst mother on the planet. Not to mention she got pissed off at me cause I didn't get a chance to rub her back today, when I've been working on my college application for westwood, as well as my first quiz, placement tests and applying for financial aid. I start the 28th. I needed to get stuff done quickly so that everything was sent through, approved and so I was put in the right classes. And she's acting like I'm some horrible daughter. Which is normal, but its seems worse then normal. Like.. nothing I do is ok anymore.

She gave me a guilt trip about not giving her a back rub, and I asked her why. She said that wasn't what she was doing and that I've pulled several of those while she was there. I told her to tell me what I did that with so I could apologize cause I hadn't tried to do that to her once. She got all angry and stormed out of the room. I'm just sick of this. I don't know what to do to make it better. And now when she's taking care of her tattoo she'll remember how mad she was at me, instead of why I wanted it with her to begin with.

I feel like I've given her a life sentence to something she didn't want... It makes me want to get rid of mine, regardless of the pain... and I don't like that feeling. I wanted the tattoo cause I'm her best friend, and she's mine. Why is it that when we're around each other I only upset her? She tells me how much she loves me and how much I'm her best friend when she's down in TX and I'm up here in WI... but she hasn't said it once in the week she's been up here.... that really makes me regret the tattoo... but it's permanent... I have to live with that.... But how can I feeling like she regrets it?

[Oniya]

Could it be a reaction to the ink?  Could she be irritating it in some other way (clothing, itching it, cleaning supplies)?  You say that you have two other tattoos.  Did your first tattoo react the way hers is?

Also, it's not uncommon for two people to get along better when they're far apart.  You're more likely to gloss over the little irritations that drive you absolutely nuts when you're forced to share close quarters.  Ben Franklin even said that 'Fish and houseguests both start to smell after three days.'

I'm willing to bet that, once the stress of college apps and sharing a place together is over, she'll be back to calling you her best friend.

[Doom Cookie]

That's the thing, I had my peace sign (which has several colors in it) that never ran at all. Then there's the wings that go across the entire top part of my shoulders. Non of them reacted like that. My peace faded, I didn't take all the ink. But I never ran, and I never had entire chunks of skin come off. Actually... I never really had any come off with either of them.

She's been keeping it uncovered, but wearing a shirt to bed. She has children, so she doesn't clean. And I told her at the start of this: If it itches, pat it lightly. Scratching will fuck it up. Period. - And she seemed to understand. I haven't seen her scratch it yet. The woman is nearly 45 and she's acting like a big baby about this. She's pissed off that mine isn't completely done yet. I only have the outline finished because I was in so much pain I had to ask him to stop. It's directly on the shoulder bone and I already have nerve pain from the MS. The nerves in your shoulder blades are close the the service and I could feel those needles all the way down my arm. She knows I'll get it finished. I don't like the plain outline. I just hate where it's at. I already had other tattoos I wanted on my back, and she just HAD to put it there or she wasn't going to get it at all.  She just frustrates me.

She just came in and asked me if I wanted the bag of potatoe chips we bought for movie night. I told her if she wanted them to take them because I didn't mind. She got all pissy "It's a simple yes or no answer!" Ugh. There really is no way to please her and I'm honestly glad she's leaving today for TX.