"That's so cute! So like... what does it mean?"

Almost everytime I tell someone I just got my first tattoo, this is the response I get. The thing about it is, I don't really have an answer. And I think that's okay, too. Let me give you a little bit of a backstory.

The second I turned eighteen, I wanted to get a tattoo but I could never figure out what I wanted. There was so much pressure that it had to represent some life-altering moment or something that has some huge significance to me. I thought I wanted something to do with music, and then something to do with reading, like maybe a quote from my favorite book. No matter how much thought I tried to put into it, I just couldn't think of something that felt like it fit the expectation that tattoos usually come with, that of having some deep meaning.

So, fast-forward two years and now I'm twenty and my boyfriend drove down to visit for Thanksgiving break. He already had one tattoo but was ready to get his second, so we made him an appointment at Blu Gorilla Full-On Customs on Meeting St. He loved it and they did an awesome job. So I said, "What the hell, make me an appointment."

I had two days to figure out what I was going to get and where. So, of course, Pinterest became my BFF. I had a few ideas but like always, I couldn't decide on one.

After looking for a really long time, I found one that I really liked but I kept looking. I kept going back to that one though. I liked the idea and I liked the placement, but I wanted to make it my own style. So I took it into my artist (his name is Matt BTW in case you're interested) and I showed him the two pictures I had and he got to work on creating a stencil.

We moved it around a few times until I found a spot where I really liked it, and then, as people say, it was time to put pen to paper (or tattoo gun to skin).

People keep asking "so what is the story behind why you got it?" Honestly, I just wanted it. It's cute and it's the style I wanted and I just like it.

I've always been that person that can't go outside without saying "Oooh, look at the moon!" and I'm a lover of astronomy and the night sky. So if you absolutely need to know a reason, I guess there's one for you. A lot of people probably still won't understand why I got what I got.

But that's OK. You don't have to understand it because I do.

I used to be someone who thought that every tattoo needed a deep meaning or you would just regret it later, but I don't think that way anymore at all. Your body is a blank canvas (as cliche as that might sound) and you can decorate it in whatever way you see fit and for whatever reason (or no reason). It's your body.

Tattoo on, dudes.