Having tattoos used to be frowned upon in society but they have really grown in popularity over the past 20 years.
One young man spent his entire childhood loving them and knew it was the one thing in life he wanted when he was old enough. This is a story about Buzz, a 23-year-old man with autism and his struggle to get a tattoo.
The Love Begins
Buzz’s mom, Sandi Green, told KTVU that her son, diagnosed with autism from a young age, had always wanted a tattoo as a child.
“He loved the fake ones,” she said, but sadly he would freak out whenever they eventually washed away. As a young child Buzz was always asking his mom if he could get one, but she held firm and told him he would have to wait until he was older.
The Time Had Come
Finally, Buzz’s mom had decided her son had waited enough, it was time for him to get his tattoo. It was on his 23rd birthday that she decided would be the perfect time for her son to get inked.
Buzz was always going to be on board, and even his doctor thought it was a good idea. All that was left to decide was what to get, where on his body to have it inked, and which artist was going to do it.
A Permanent Mark
The problem with tattoos is that they are generally permanent, barring some painful laser removal. Sandi went to several tattoo parlors to get her son’s tattoo done, but time after time she was rejected.
Every shop they went to either dismissed them or quoted them an extortionate price. Sandi understood their reaction, to an extent, as Buzz is over 6 ft, weighs 200 pounds, and no one could predict how he would react to the needle.
Rejoice!
Finally, Buzz found an artist willing to do the tattoo, at Northwest Inkorporated. He got Tommy Pickles from the cartoon Rugrats. The artist explained that Buzz “sat like a champ” during the work and the artist was determined to make the tattoo work no matter what.
Buzz had been wanting Tommy for five years, and finally, his dream came true. He had a tattoo of his very own and this one wouldn’t wash away.