At 74, this Kentucky woman finally fulfilled her dream of getting a tattoo

When Rita Hopkins turned 70, she decided to get a tattoo. Four years later, with the assistance of a program at her senior living community called Living the Dream, she was able to make it happen.

Living the Dream helps residents at the Lexington, Kentucky, facility fulfill items on their bucket lists — it might be something like seeing a sporting event or taking a trip to a new place. In Hopkins' case, she told organizers her dream was to get a tattoo, and earlier this month she went to Tattoo Charlie's with her daughter, Meg Phillips, to get inked.

Phillips told LEX 18 it was "surreal" being at a tattoo parlor with her mom, who declared getting a tattoo was "not nearly as bad as going to the dentist." She chose to get an infinity sign with three small hearts to represent her grandchildren now living in Michigan. "I don't get to see them nearly as much as we did when they lived close by," Hopkins said. "So I'll always have this right here with me."

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Phillips also got a tattoo — the word "love" five times, each one traced from the signature of a family member — and Hopkins told LEX 18 when she looks at her tattoo, "it'll be something I can always remember this moment with her and look at that and just think about the special relationship and bond that we do have."