Family First: The Lain Legacy of Love, Art, and Unity
by Tina + Chris Lain
Photos by Shoocha Photography
> Click here for the full photo gallery
Meet Chris and Tina Lain: business owners, family-focused, and powerfully creative, these two have been through all types of adventures to get to where they are now as a couple. We asked them to tell their story and give us a glimpse behind the curtain to learn what success in marriage means to them after over thirty-four years together. Tina describes their thoughts below.
Chris Lain is founder, tattooer, and painter with Pinnacle Tattoo. He spent his early childhood on the family farm, Knolle Farms, in Sandia Texas until his family moved to Corpus Christi. Tina Lain is founder, cosmetic and restorative tattoo artist with Gold Dust Cosmetic Collective. Originally from Scottsdale, Arizona, she moved to Corpus Christi in 1991 and met Chris that same year. Tina had some opportunities in Austin and the couple maintained a long distance courtship with the lost art of handwritten love letters sent via snail mail, endless hours of rotary long distance phone calls, and spontaneous plane tickets. All of this provided a beautiful beginning to a relationship deeply rooted in friendship. Tina moved back to Corpus Christi, and in April, 1999, they were married.
Tell us about your beliefs on marriage:
My perspective and thoughts on marriage have never wavered. At my core, I believe we need each other at every season of our life. In our early years, we lean on and into our maternal / paternal family dynamic to provide us with what will serve as our fundamental foundation. In our adolescence, our friends, peers, teachers, coaches, and the like take a front and center role in our development. In our adult life, while we’re still nurturing who we are, our experiences culminated up to this point establish our core values. We will attract like minded individuals, and together, we become a stable center to our spouse, providing an environment where both partners feel emotionally secure, comfortably supported, and have a safe sense of predictability.
Having now lived more of our lives together in unity than we have apart in independence, we know from experience in this lifetime, if we are lucky, we will and have grown-up, grown-in, grown-out, and circled back to self and serving each other many times over and always with a slightly different version of ourselves. In this, we afford each other the opportunity to feel and express our respective feelings and emotions while simultaneously nurturing one another and our relationship. It’s important to acknowledge perfect doesn’t exist, we will never have a perfect marriage, but together we will always be our best. We are the pairing of worn leather and delicate lace, the balance of both strength and softness, a complement designed for one another.
How do you work to resolve conflict and who do you go to for support?
Chris is the calm to my cool, his naturally neutral temperament was an immediate attraction. He is and always has been a brilliant communicator. I on the other hand, keep conflict close to my chest and typically remain tight-lipped. I’ve had to learn how to open myself up to a discussion and receive resolution.
Initially, our style of defusing a dispute varied drastically. I am a master at compartmentalization while Chris is equally proficient in deconstructing and dissolving any and all issues. Together, we’ve successfully navigated (with many hurdles, obstacles, detours, and pitfalls in between) our lifetime together. I generally need a minute to breathe and contemplate my thoughts before discussing. Chris is ready for conversation immediately. Chris has made me a better version of myself with every challenge overcome. “Just as Tina has made me the man I am today,” says Chris.
We are firm believers in keeping our personal life personal. It is the magic that makes us, us and the fiber that keeps our family safely woven in a protective love. With that said, we readily acknowledge we’ve had our fair share of familial trials and tribulations. Experiencing these challenges are both normal and expected in every healthy relationship. It’s how we choose to face our challenges that puts a purpose in our path.
Together, in unity, we diligently work to overcome both personal and professional adversities. We’ve utilized marriage counseling services in the past, and while we didn’t necessarily learn new tools or communication skills, having a third party (non familial member) act as a sounding board, directing discussions, proved invaluable. We will never walk in front or behind one another, always arm-in-arm and side-by-side, knowing together we will overcome every obstacle.
What adventures have brought you closer together?
What we’ve learned over the course of our many adventures shared is… with our countless list of top-10 adventures, there have also been navigational disagreements, we’ve been lost or stuck on more than one occasion, we’ve tasted flavors we never want on our palettes again, we’ve driven on fumes, and walked through the forest with blisters on our feet, and in all of it, in the mud and muck, we have wished for one more night
because we were together.
Chris has taught me, perspective is everything. We can share a weekend in the hill country or weeks abroad and both adventures will yield cherished memories (there will also be the ones we hope to soon forget, the truthful balance of life).
Not as much of an adventure most would think of, but upon reading and writing our answer to this question together, I couldn’t help but think of how the loss of my parents brought Chris and I closer together. To lose one parent is difficult. To lose both within six-months was nearly devastating. So while not touring the bright city lights, walking quaint cobblestone streets, or taking in picturesque planes, navigating the loss of a loved one is indeed an emotional, spiritual, and physical journey (adventure). One when guided alone can be most excruciating, but when supported by your spouse, while still painful, the days are brighter and the nights bearable.
Adventures are meant to be lived daily. Whether it is in the highest peaks climbed or the lowest valley hiked, we feel a deep sense of gratitude for all of it, the life we have worked so hard to create, our own. Don’t wait for a plane or train ticket, make your adventures your own; an impromptu picnic in the park, or a surprise outing to the pet store with your grandchildren for a leopard gecko (true story), every experience can be our best one until our next one. Our lives are meant to be our own. Create the one you wish to live every single day, not just on holiday!!
What’s your favorite date night?
Our views on the ultimate date look a little different at the start, but end the same way… Now living in our ‘Free Bird’ era, date night is every night we share together. As small business owners, our schedules don’t permit for many spontaneous weekday dates, so we religiously plan monthly weekends away making sure to disconnect from the hustle and reconnect with one another. Chris’ take on the ultimate date night is one that turns into a date morning. A simple man, he likes what he likes, and it seems he likes me. Lucky me!!
What can couples do to stay together?
Unlike most questions, we answered this one separately. We laughed at how similar our responses were.
Tina: Connect. Disconnect. Reconnect. Repeat. If you are fortunate, through the course of your marriage, you will fall in love with a variant or version of the person you married over and over and over again. You will also experience periods where your spouse is not your favorite person. That’s okay too. Remembering to love someone does not equate to always liking their behavior. The evolution of self must serve your spouse as much as it does yourself.
Chris: Couples need to be open to the evolution of the marriage as well as each other. Life is long and there will be many instances that will take place and shape who we are as individuals within the relationship. Those experiences will also change the dynamic of the marriage. In moving forward as a unit, it is a helpful to be accepting of those changes in your spouse.
What does legacy mean to you?
We have two sons, Christian (Sierra) and Carson (Evieonna). Being their parents has given us the opportunity to nurture a familial foundation for generations ahead. A gift we don’t take lightly and a responsibility we cherish daily, more so on our hardest days.
We have three grandchildren, Luca West, Julian Thomas (Christian and Sierra) and Leyla Marie (Carson and Evieonna). The joys of the second act emulate the first, but with a wiser perspective based on life experiences shared with our own children.
A simple rule of three: be present, be prepared, and be willing to pour into your family. In doing so, we are fortunate enough to share a beautiful relationship with our adult sons based on a mutual respect and appreciation for one another.
From father to sons, the art of tattooing has been passed down as a sacred rite, not merely a trade, but as a way of living boldly, colorfully, authentically. We are a family bound by more than blood. Artistic tales through the use of pigment and skin will share our stories long after we’ve left and the generations ahead continue on.
The apprenticeship Chris provided our sons, Christian and Carson, was never just an artistic instruction. Rather, it was and continues to be an example of trust, patience, and the quiet power of tradition unfolding in our home and our studios. Every line drawn carries more than pigment. It carries memory and meaning. It carries us.
This is our family’s legacy—not just what we leave, but what we’ve built, together, creating art that will last the test of time, carrying forward a family tradition of artistic excellence, honoring what came before us, where we are today, and what we will leave behind. While we are their foundation, our sons, by their own design, are the future of the Lain Legacy.
