Bernard O'Shea: My first tattoo... guess where, and what I got inked?

"While today, one might get inked to commemorate a life event or to express individuality, in ancient times, each tattoo bore a more profound, often communal significance."

Bernard O'Shea. Photograph Moya Nolan

They say tattoos are the stories we write on our skin. On my bum, I wrote my wife's birthdate, a tale of love and forgetfulness. Call it... ‘literature'.

Although I’ve never forgotten my wife's birthday (no, this isn’t an elaborate apology), I constantly fear forgetting it.