A Milestone to Remember: Six Women Celebrate their 50th Birthdays with Ink
Longtime friendships are a rare and beautiful thing, and a when a group of six New Jersey women - friends since grammar school - celebrated their milestone fiftieth birthdays this year, they decided to commemorate their friendship in a unique way: they got matching tattoos.
Sue Tobjy, who already had six tattoos, suggested the idea to her friends about a year ago. One of the women, Darlene Tremont, had three tattoos herself and was easily convinced. The other four weren’t quite as quick to warm up to the idea.
“Can’t we all get a piece of jewelry?” Kathy Sippie countered.
Jewelry just didn’t have the permanence that the women felt was appropriate to commemorate such a long standing friendship. Tobjy reassured her friends that the pain of getting a tattoo is worse than going to a dentist, but not as bad as childbirth. Eventually, the women all agreed, and they decided on shooting stars. The main star in the design is symbolic the women as a group, and the smaller stars represent their personalities. Jae Conner of Electric Lotus Tattoo and Piercing in Boonton, New Jersey did the tattooing.
The women are all 1977 graduates of Wayne Hills High School in New Jersey, and they have all remained very close over the years. They take a yearly vacation together, and they meet for dinner once a month.
“We can all relate to each other,” said Tobjy. “I know more about these girls, and we know each other’s lives, our families, everything. They’re in my life forever.”
“We’re all soul mates,” declared Lori Atieh.
Leave a Reply