Most parents give a nice smell, new socks or a good book, but Loes and Jan (44) from Klundert tackled things differently. They gave themselves and their two daughters a family intattoo as a gift. “We have experienced a lot. This connects us all a little more.”
Mother Loes and daughters Tess (17) and Liz (15) talk together on the other side of the line. “We didn’t know what to give them before Christmas,” Loes begins. While they were in pajamas in front of the TV in the evening, Loes suggested the idea of taking a family set -up. “It seemed like something that brings us together even more.”
“Those hearts for Dad, no that really wasn’t!”
Tess and Liz were immediately enthusiastic. “I wanted them to think about it well,” says Loes, but the girls could not be kept. “Liz can draw well. A week later she came up with a design.” Everyone was enthusiastic about what that looked like and that Liz had thought of it. “That gave me the feeling that they were really behind it.”
They became hearts with the birth years of each other. Only hubby had to do something else: “No, hearts for dad, that’s not cool,” laughs Loes. He tattooed the names and birth dates of the three ladies on the thigh. “The names of the girls have been on his upper arm since their birth,” Loes proudly adds.
Looking for a shop turned out to be a challenge, because Liz is only 15. “I expected that things would go smoother, because we agreed as parents.” After a search, they arrived in Raamsdonkveer, in a shop that wanted to put the tattoos in exceptional cases.
“The tattoo has been a way afterwards to end a fierce time.”
Liz and Tess had each taken two paracetamol that morning, they admit. “You don’t know how it will feel,” Liz defends. “But that tattoo artist kept chatting, so that helped.”
For Tess, putting the tattoo was an emotional moment. “It connects us as a family,” she says. But there is more behind it, her mother adds. The family has often had to worry about in recent years, she says. “When Liz was six weeks old and Tess just two, they got the RS virus. Tess was in the hospital in critical condition.”
Due to complications to her womb, Loes herself has also been operated on 32 times. “Very and very frightening for myself and for the two young children,” she says. Tess and Liz had to help her take care of her regularly. “I remember that Mama suddenly lost a lot of blood. I was six at the time,” says Tess, who later wants to become a doctor. “I woke up dad, grabbed the phone and called the hospital.”
Loes, audibly emotional: “I often felt guilty towards the girls that they already had so much responsibility at a young age.” The family wants to close this chapter with this tattoo. “I have been healthy for three years now, let’s hope it stays that way,” says Loes.
“Humbers did not believe my tattoo, they went with their finger with spit.”
At Liz ‘Environment sometimes the tattoo arouses astonishment: “They ask:” Wow, do you already have a tattoo now? “. With korfball, teammates with spit and their finger went to see if he really was,” she says indignantly. “If I explain it, they think it’s cool.”
Because Tess may want to become a doctor later, she chose to put the tattoo on her upper arm so that she can also hide it if necessary. “I thought it was so good that she thought about that,” says Loes proudly. Whether there will be more tattoos? “Yes, I want another one!” Liz says immediately. Loes interrupts her smiling: “I know, but we’ll still talk about that … if you’re a little older.”
