You’re never too old for a tattoo. It’s easy enough to say that and I’m sure a lot of us have said that at some point, without really giving it much more thought. Old can be a pretty relative term. I mean, 50 could be old to some people, just as 30 can be old to others. But what about 99? 100? 101? I’m pretty sure that no matter who you are or how old you are, you consider a century to be seriously senior citizen.
At the age of 99, Mimi Rosenthal made the decision to get her first tattoo. A surprising decision for any 99-year-old, but even more surprising given that 17 years earlier, Mimi’s approval of her granddaughter’s brand new tattoo was less than favourable. At that point in her life, the concept of having a tattoo had apparently still not become acceptable to Mimi. Given some time however, Mimi Rosenthal’s opinion of tattoos began to change. Why the change of opinion? Rosenthal answers that with a simple “Why not?”
Her first tattoo came at the age of 99. It was a small blue butterfly, about the size of a dime, on one of her ankles. Rosenthal liked the tattoo, but lamented that it was a little small. The second tattoo was done to celebrate her 100th birthday. This time it was on her other leg, and it was a flower about the size of a silver dollar. This was a decent size for Rosenthal, but having to lift her pant leg to show it off got to be a bit of a pain. I guess when you’re 100 years old and you have tattoos, people tend to want to see them often.
Now 101-years-old, Mimi Rosenthal has just had her third tattoo done – a sunflower on her arm. This one was done this past weekend in Spring Hill, Florida. After getting the sunflower, Rosenthal joked that her next tattoo on her 102nd birthday will be done on her butt. It sounds like a joke, but then again, hearing that a 101-year-old woman likes to get tattooed isn’t always the easiest thing to take serious, either. But Mimi Rosenthal is serious all right.
Not to mention very cool.