He's gotten a tattoo!

Comment by Paula S. on June 10, 2009 at 11:32am

My sailor daughter is proving to be quite the traditionalist... at least when it comes to acquiring tatoos. She phoned me on Saturday (while I was still up on the rooftop after the air show) to tell me of her newest two (yes, two more)... a pig on the top of one foot and a chicken on the top of the other. Now you have to understand, there's not much that this child does that surprises me anymore... lol. But a pig and a chicken?? She goes on to tell me that yes, Gramps told her of the ole sailor's lore:
The pig on one foot and the rooster on the other were believed to give a sailor the ability to walk on water if they had to abandon ship. This came from old lore of merchant ships that sank while carrying lives animals. The crates that housed the pigs and the roosters always floated and ended up on land. Thus, by having a pig and rooster tattooed on either foot, sailors too could make it to land if their ship sank.

Now, this is all news to me. I'd thought I'd heard it ALL from my dad, but every once in awhile, I hear something new. Apparently, he's sharing old sailor/Navy stories with his shipmate granddaughter. Holly told me that she's been thinking about doing this for quite awhile now (where was I?), and she just finally decided to do it. So I pass the phone off to Gramps... well you should have seen his face break into the biggest smile and he laughed so hard he almost cried. There's just no figuring out these two!!

Comment by Nate's Mom (Wendy) ;P on June 10, 2009 at 2:18pm

It is fun to see the ole navy tats back!!! Make you remember they did have a sense of humor!!! On Valentines day..hubby who is retired..and yep has traditonal tats already..added to his collection..on his back two huge pirates..and I got my first of a traditional Sailor Jerry tatt (sparrow) with my oldest that just graduated BC a banner that said, "My son,my sailor my hero, "Nate". What more bonding than on your 23rd Valentines day..getting tatts..and yes they are addictive..already lookin for my next piece. Nate got one after BC too.

Comment by Lone Star Sailor Mom on June 10, 2009 at 5:42pm

LOL - if I had known I would have so much fun with this vein of conversation, I would have posted this the MINUTE he called and told me about the tattoo!!! You gals have made an otherwise boring and lonely day at work really fun...THANK YOU ALL!!!

Comment by Anita *** A.J.'s MOM *** on June 10, 2009 at 6:48pm

AJ got his first tat in April 08 when he was home on leave, it is My First Name and DOB and My Husbands. After Prototype, he and his wife drove from Goose Creek, SC to Bremerton, WA where he is stationed now, in April of 09. They spent 1 nite in San Antonio and in the middle of our names he had A Nucleus because he is an ET, Nuclear Reactor Tech. My younger daughter, sister-in-law and I all want to get tats together, but I'm petrafied of needles. I found 3 ladybugs on a ribbon, I love ladybugs and I have 3 children. My oldest daughter just told me, she saw the pig and rooster tats on the History channel and they told the story! Pretty Cool!!!

Comment by Paula S. on June 11, 2009 at 9:51am

LOL... I had never heard of the Pig & Rooster tat lore before my daughter had them tatooed to the tops of her feet. She will be her sister's Maid of Honor at the wedding in June 2010 and I'm sure the shoe of choice will be some kind of strappy heel... now THAT should make for interesting conversation around the wedding, don't ya think? She phoned my cell one afternoon while I was at my parent's house and wanted me to look up how to spell "Perseverance" as she was going to get that tatooed on her left wrist. Sigh... so I look it up and we repeated it numerous times to make sure we had it correct. Well a few days later she's showing off her new tatoo when someone says, "Uhhhh... it's spelled wrong!" The tatoo artist had left off the first "r". Needless to say, she threw a hissy fit with the tatoo parlor and they were able to repair it. So... moral of the story is pay attention to the artist when having words tatooed on your skin!

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