Grandparents' Day and . . . tattoos?

Recently, Emma's 2nd grade class had Grandparents' Day. Both Grandma Betty and Grandpa Ray attended with Emma. She was so happy to have them both there with her. In fact in her entire class of 24 students, only 2 kids didn't have at least one grandparent attend. One was sick and the other lived out of state. So the activity was a success. The grandparents' helped make "Overnight Bags" with the kids, these are bags that the kids can take with them to sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa's house. The grandparents also shared stories of their elementary years with the kids, and they also had lunch with the kids at school.

Emma with Grandma Betty & Grandpa Ray at Grandparents Day

Yes, you read the title correctly. But you may be wondering what do Grandparents and tattoos have in common. Let me explain. If you know Emma's grandparents you would know that they would never have a tattoo, not in a million years. In fact, I'm sure the same is true of all of the other grandparents who attended Grandparents Day that day. But remember when I said the grandparents all had to share stories of their elementary years with the kids? I wasn't there, but Jason's mom Grandma Betty shared the story of several of the other grandparents with me. Many of the grandparents who grew up in the Davis County area said that when they were in elementary school (most were born during or shortly after World War II), the government wanted the kids to have their blood type tattooed on them, so that in case of an emergency, the blood type would be easy to find out. So they did just that, they tattooed their blood type in small lettering in a discreet place on their body, usually on the side of their torso, somewhat under the arm. Both Betty and I were so surprised to hear of this. Betty grew up in Salina, Utah which is a small town in central Utah, and Ray grew up in Salt Lake City, so neither of them ever had to do this or heard of this before. I had never heard of this either. So their you have it, some of the grandparents have what I am sure is their one and only tattoo they will ever have. Many of them made it clear that they are in no way in support of voluntary tattoos. I thought this was a cute and interesting story to share. For fun, depending on when and where they grew up, you may want to ask your parents or grandparents if they have a tattoo of their blood type, and the answer may surprise you.