Tattoos

Those of you who may know me or have read my blog for a little bit know that I'm a big fan and relatively big collector of tattoos. I can't really explain the motivation behind getting them, except that it seems to me to be one of the most natural and human things one could do. Tattoos have been around since before religion and modern civilization and they will continue despite the ebbs and flows of societal change.

As you can see by the pictures below, I started out as a relatively small-time tattoo collector and stuck with black line drawings for my first five. I've found that just like I as a person have grown, so has my tattoo taste...hence the two larger, color pieces. This does not mean that I regret any of my tattoos--far from it, actually. I love each one of them because I did my homework and made sure it was a design I loved. Plus, the benefit to black tattoos on white skin is that they look awesome with just about anything :)

Many people have given me the "what will it look like when you're 80" line, and my answer is that my skin will probably look the same as yours, just with pictures on it. If you don't like tattoos, you don't, and that's fine. If you don't like my tattoos, fine, you don't, and I really don't care. But for those of you who like to look, I've added them here for your viewing pleasure. Thanks for looking!

My first tattoo - Rob and I got this together. It's on my right hip, which I didn't think anyone really wanted to see but here it is anyway.  This word, Anamchara, means "soulmate" or "spiritual guide" in Gaelic. Rob has this on his arm.

Second tattoo.  Not the best angle, but you try taking a picture of your lower back by yourself! :) Yes, my dear friends, this is a tramp stamp, but I like to think it's classier than the traditional lower back fare.  This was actually a design I found online for a Celtic tree of life.  I fell in love and now it is situated lovingly above my ass.

Third and fourth tattoos.  I got the flower just before Rob got home from Iraq, sort of a present to myself for how much I had endured in that time.  Also a design I found online.  The doves were added later, they've taken on the significance of my two sisters, Ashleen and Megan, who I love dearly and with whom I am very close.

Tattoo #5.  This is (obviously) a seeded dandelion with a few of the seeds going along the top of my shoulder.  I saw a picture in a book and my artist went from there, drawing it on his own.  It's sort of taken on the meaning of life and perserverance through hardship; perhaps more specifically, cancer has been something that is all to prevalent in my life--I had cancer as a child, my grandmother lost a kidney to it, I lost a best friend to it, and now my sister-in-law struggles daily with the effects of it.  This has sort of become an homage to them.

AHA, my first color.  I gave my tattoo artist a picture of a traditional Gypsy tattoo with cabbage rose, and not being a particularly traditionally-minded person when it comes to tattoos, he came up with his own modern interpretation.  The banner, "The Stardust of a Song" comes from my grandparents' song "Stardust." They were a traditional WWII couple who meant the world to me and who passed away just before Rob and I got married at their home in Maine.  This is in homage to them and the effect they've had on my life.

The latest addition, after 25 hours of work.  This tattoo was sort of an homage to my husband, a former Army paratrooper, his friends, the experience and the effect it had on us, and my own military heritage.