Mark KennedySome people reveal their lives to therapists. Other people choose to share their lives through tattoos.
According to a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey, 40 percent of Americans say that someone in their household has a tattoo. That's up from 21 percent in 1999, almost doubling in 16 years.
At this rate, it might be only a matter of time until tattoos are as common as freckles.
"Now, everybody has somebody who they love who has a tattoo," says Daniel "Bones" LaLonde, owner of Freedom Tattoo Inc. in Hixson.
Attribute the trend to two demographic groups, young adults and women. Americans under age 45 are about twice as likely to have a tattoo as those over 45, according to a 2014 survey by Fox News. Almost half of women under age 35 have at least one tattoo, about twice the rate for young men, Fox has reported.
LaLonde, 43, got his first tattoo at age 14 -- a self-drawn cross on his arm that turned into a crooked mess. But even then, LaLonde said, he was acting on an impulse that he thinks is virtually etched in his DNA.
Both his father and grandfather were military men and LaLonde remembers as a 5-year-old looking at their tattoos with wonder. He remembers thinking his father's tattoo was a wound. Although his dad would say he regretted getting his tattoos, LaLonde has never shared that feeling.
"I've told people before that the only thing I dislike about tattoos is the way some people look at you when you have them," he says.
Although acceptance is growing, LaLonde says some people still associate tattoos with nefarious people. Tattoos have no more to do with crime than short hair has to do with illegal drugs, he said. In fact, more and more tattoos are faith-inspired.
LaLonde has "Jesus" tattooed on his right hand -- he's not forward about his Christianity but says he hopes his faith is reflected in his life. He also has a skull on his left calf drawn by his deceased son, who was killed in a traffic accident in 2010.
His store in a Hixson strip mall is modern, clean and inviting; a sign the tattoo parlor has gone from being an urban-core cliche to a suburban service like a nail salon or a Starbucks.
LaLonde, who learned his craft through lengthy apprenticeships, is a good candidate to explain why tattooing has gone from a fringe art form associated with servicemen and bikers to an everyday medium.
"Most of my life -- my experiences -- are on my body," he explains.
Tattoo artists sometimes become surrogate therapists for their customers, LaLonde says. Even casual, one-time customers often want him to know the full story of a loved one they want to memorialize with a tattoo, he says. And the more ardent tattoo customers become friends who come to Freedom Tattoo again and again to mark major life events.
"You are only a client for so long, and then you become a friend," he says. "Some clients have been coming here for 10 or 15 years. As their journey has gone on, they want to share that story. Not everyone gets a chance to go on television and tell their story."
For many people, their lives are open books -- and their tattoos are just their illustrations.
Contact Mark Kennedy at mkennedy@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6645. Follow him on Twitter @TFPCOLUMNIST. Subscribe to his Facebook updates at www.facebook.com/mkennedycolumnist.