Waaay back in July when the weather was good and the days were slow – ahhh summer, don’t you miss the shit out of it? Anyway, back in the summer I posted a blog about George Reiger. Reiger is most likely the biggest Disney fan that ever existed, with 2,200 Disney related tattoos to prove it. There’s a Mickey Mouse on Geiger’s body over 100 times. There was a time in Reiger’s life where nothing else gave him more joy than to get tattooed with Disney related characters and attractions and to have other people marvel at the crazy fleshy cartoon that his body had become.
Well that was then and this is now. In less than five months since I last reported on 56-year-old George Reiger, his life has undergone a major change. No, I’m not talking about more tattoos. I’m talking about Love. Yes folks, George Reiger is madly, hopelessly in love and to celebrate, he’s getting rid of his entire Disney collection, which boasts 5,000 different Disney collectables. But wait! There’s more. Remember those 2,200 Disney tattoos that cover over 85% of his body? Yep. Those are going to be lasered away as well. No more Disney tattoos for Mr. George Reiger.
“She makes me feel like a kid,” Reiger said Thursday while boarding a Disney cruise in Cape Canaveral, Fla., with Kathleen, whose last name he did not reveal. “I’m totally in love.”
Reiger said his Disney-themed tattoos served for a long time to alleviate his loneliness by gaining him attention at Disney theme parks and other locations. He said he now no longer needs them.
“I don’t want to see them anymore,” he said. “I found a new life; I want to start fresh.”
Hey, I sure as hell don’t envy the pain that Reiger is going to have to endure in order to get all those tattoos removed from his body. I don’t think that anyone in their right mind would. The thing is though, that despite all the total pain that he will go through and despite the questioning of the sanity of a person who would cover themselves in over 2,000 tattoos only to have them removed on what some might consider to be a whim, what I love about this story is that these tattoos served their purpose for George Reiger. They gave a lonely man companionship and comfort when he needed it. I typically think that getting tattoos removed isn’t a wise step, but in this case it all just seems so full circle that I can’t help but cheer George on.
Good luck with your lady and your new tattoo free life, George.