Diary of a Female Soldier

Tattoo

1.10.2016

Diary,

To get into the army, you have to pass a lot of tests. A lot of stupid questions, like whether you have sexual preference, how many rooms you have at home, with whom you live, etc.

One of the questions that caught my attention was whether I had a tattoo.

"Not right now." I said to a uniformed girl looking at me with obvious disinterest.

"Not right now?" She asked me, examining my tall figure.

"Exactly what I said - not right now." I replied with an amused smile and leaned back in the uncomfortable chair.

I always toyed with the idea of ​​having a tattoo. The pain didn't deter me-if it were true, I wouldn't be a soldier today. Pain is part of the life of a soldier.

But somehow I didn't see a point in doing it.

Until a week ago.

I went out with my crazy friends to the bar, got drunk a little and talked about our dreams.

Maya told me she wanted to be a politician. "Why? You're too good for that, politics will only ruin you."

"I want to change the world, I want to change how things work and help people." Her brown eyes gleamed when she said that.

"You're too naive." I said, bouncing the vodka to my mouth and drinking quickly.

"You gave up the lemon?" She asked, drinking from her beer.

"Life is too short, you have to save every moment."

"Drama Queen." She said, rolling her eyes, "What's your dream?" She asked me, taking a big bite of her hamburger.

I replied with a dreamy smile, "To do a tattoo."

From here to there I found myself in a tattoos institute, in front of my head leaning over a mustached tattooer and a big tattoo of Spongebob screaming like a yellow flag on his right arm.

I looked at him, completely indifferent to my surroundings while Maya next to me screamed like a madwoman when the needle met my skin.

"Calm down, it's not like he's killing me, woman." I said to her, rolling my eyes.

"It hurts me to see it!" She complained.

"Then close your eyes." I told her and looked at the tattoo artist while he worked.

It took him about an hour and a half before he finished the job, and at the end he asked me if I was pleased.

"Why shouldn't I be?" I asked him and gave him the money.

Maya asked me after we left, why I chose this tattoo. I told her that it had a profound meaning for me, which is true: For years people would criticize me for my decisions, and one of them was that I joined the army.

That's my way of doing a middle finger at them.

"And what about the wings?" she asked.

I smiled broadly at her and said, "It's a story for another time." I didn't bother to explain to her how much the story behind these wings hurt me, because she was happy and I didn't want to make her sad right now.

The commander calls me to turn off the lights, so I guess the time is over.

until next time,

Lexi.