Growing up, I always correlated tattoos with the almost abnormally large, intimidating characters that rode motorcycles on television. I always saw them as a sort of indicator screaming at you to run away or hide. They were a symbol of rugged toughness printed onto the bodies of these large human beings like they were paper. But now that I’m older, that viewpoint has changed considerably; I'm not afraid of those with tattoos anymore. Instead, I have a tendency to become friends with them.
Not being a very large, intimidating or strong human being, I have seemingly broken my own childhood stereotype of inked individuals. I have broken it, because I am now one of those individuals. No, I am not covered in tattoos head to toe, I just have one. Granted, I am planning what my next tattoo should be and where I should permanently give it a home, but one tattoo nonetheless. I have come to find that most of the people I meet who have tattoos are quite friendly and usually artistic in one way or another. Turns out, more times than not, everything I thought I knew about people with tattoos was the complete opposite, and I think it’s better that way.
I never really thought about getting a tattoo until a little over a year ago when I thought of something that meant a great deal to me; my family. I sketched out idea after idea, trying to find something that wasn’t a “typical” tattoo that you would find on Pinterest or Tumblr. I knew that I wanted my tattoo to mean something, but at the same time I didn’t want it to look like what it represented. then I nailed it right on the head with a design that my little brother deems “the deathly hallows symbol” and had it permanently inscribed on my left rib cage where not many people can see it. When it does see daylight, I am always asked one of three things; “You have a tattoo?” “Did it hurt?” and/or “What does it mean?” All of which I answer and explain that the first letter of all my family members’ names are all combined to make one design, one little family of ink right by my heart.
The thing about tattoos is that they are representations of the individual that holds them, some with meanings, some not, but they are a part of who that person is, was, or wants to be and in my eyes that’s pretty cool. Tattoos are something that lasts forever when a lot of other things don’t, they become a part of you, so much so that sometimes you may forget it’s there. But it’s always there, just like my family is for me; permanently on my left rib cage.
