A friend of an old college friend is working on collecting stories about people's tattoos and the how's and why's they get them. This is what I sent to her. If you're interested in sharing your story with her, message me and I will send you the profile and questions to respond to. :)
------------------------------------------
I have two tattoos. The first one I got on July 18, 2001, when I was going to graduate school at the University of Southern Mississippi. My birthday was in September and the tattoo was a 25th birthday present to myself. I knew as early as 1997 that I wanted a tattoo. I started looking at images online, particularly celtic knots and designs. I liked them all, but then I found one that really struck me, so I saved the image on my computer and had it as a desktop background for a while. Then I went to England, Wales, and Ireland for a couple weeks in the Spring of 2001. While there I bought a wall tapestry, a stamp, and some earrings. When I arrived home and laid my loot out to see it all, I realized those particular items all had the same design, the same one I had saved on my computer. I had not realized it was the same exact design when I bought the items! So to me it seemed to say, "This is a design you should get as a tattoo." So, I basically had thought about that first tattoo for a little less than 5 years before getting it. This one is a celtic knot design. I was told it was called the Four Airets, but I have not been able to find this information online again. It is a celtic knot with four divisions. When I think of the meaning of this tattoo it is not one definition, but multiple ones. The four divisions can represent the four directions, the four seasons, the four elements, the four stages of being a woman (Little Girl, Maiden, Mother/Nurturer, and Crone/Wise Woman), etc. I like thinking of this tattoo as being multiple things at the same time because we as individuals are multiple things at the same time, ie, I am daughter, sister, cousin, friend, lover, care-giver, artist, poet, citizen, etc. This tattoo refers to no significance to anyone else but myself. When others see the Four Airets they only see a celtic knot with four parts, so I enjoy explaining what it means to me. When I got the Four Airets I was taking graduate school courses during the summer and staying with a friend. I was away from home and I could get something without my folks really knowing, so I had been told about a patricular tattoo parlor that was a good one, they had good artists, and it was a clean place. I knew my dad would disapprove so I never told him or my mother. I nearly got away for a year without my mom knowing about this tattoo. I was going to tell her about it on the one year anniversary of having it, but she spied it when I was in the dressing room when we went shopping. She was surprised, but then she just laughed it off. For the most part she was concerned about formal occassions and how other professionals might perceive it. This tattoo is on my back right shoulder blade (where the deltoid muscle overlaps the scapula), so it is easy to hide on a daily basis, and I told her that if ever I need to wear a formal dress for an occassion then I would choose one which had a large enough strap to cover it, if I felt it necessary. I come from Central Mississippi and my mother was definitely one concerned about outward appearances and how others would perceive me with a visible tattoo.
After moving to Kentucky for work, I got my second tattoo at a parlor in Lexington in March of 2005 when I was 28. The second tattoo is a slightly different story. My dad died March of 2004 and I wanted to get a tattoo in June of that same year, which is his birth month. But I could not settle on a design. So I decided that I would wait a year, find a design during that time I really liked, and get the tattoo in March 2005 to memorialize his death. So it took me a year to decide on the design for my second tattoo. In Lexington I was seeing someone who already had several tattoos and she recommended a person who she knew was really good. I had a conference with the tattooist about a week before the tattoo appointment to meet him and to discuss the design. I wanted this tattoo to have some depiction of plants or trees, but to also have some reference to myself and some symbolization of family connection. This is when I came across the Tree of Life. It was perfect. Since my dad's business was landscaping, the tree was a great symbol for his appreciation for trees and shrubbery. The limbs and roots are interwoven in this version of the Tree of Life, and this serves as the family tree symbol for me: I am connected to my father and all other family. The Tree of Life also is a design that I appreciate greatly simply because it is an intricate and beautiful design. The Tree of Life is definitely a tree and others might think that I simply have a great admiration for nature and trees, which is true but only part of the story behind the tattoo; they would never know it memorializes my father without me telling the story. I showed this tattoo to my mom a few months after I got it and told her why I got it. She didn't exactly approve but didn't express total disapproval either. This one is also on my back, but on my left shoulder blade.
Many people told me that getting a tattoo was like getting stung by a bee many times in a row. I had never been stung by a bee and still haven't! I do, however, have a somewhat high tolerance to pain. The first few minutes of getting a tattoo does hurt a little bit, but then the muscle and skin gets a little numb and I wait it out. Both times I thought it was going to hurt a lot more than it did, but neither were quite that bad.
I want to get more tattoos. Both tattoos are round, but the Four Airets is about half the size of the Tree of Life. I want to add a celtic ring around the Four Airets to make it about as large as the second tat. I also want to get two more tattoos but these would be on the outer shoulders (deltoid muscle) just over the ball-and-socket joint. On my right one I would get the Virgo symbol and on my left one I would get the Chinese Characters for "Fire Dragon" or just the one for "Dragon." I am interested in astrology, mostly as a hobby, but it has always been of interest to me. These two symbols would further describe me as I am. It is possible I will choose not to get either of those designs, but settle for a celtic design of a dragon I have created by merging two designs I found online. If I got this, it would be a larger tattoo than just the characters and I would want to put it on my back, or I might be bold and put it on my right upper arm, right where the deltoid muscle meets the other muscles. I also want to add two vines on my back. These would run parallel to the spine (tattooing over the spine makes me nervous) and then they would branch over the shoulder and back down a little (still on the back). It will probably be quite some time before I get this tattoo as I have yet to find a vine design I favor a lot and it will cost considerably more to have this done, if I ever choose to do it. I have always thought that the tattoos at the small of the back looked sexy, but I don't think that I could manage getting one there because I am very sensitive in that spot. I might not get my next tattoo until I am in another state (Four Airets, Mississippi; Tree of Life, Kentucky) or maybe I should have gotten my third one this year since it was three years between the first two and it is now three years since my second one, but finances is tight and I don't think it will happen. Besides, I do like to put a lot of thought into getting my tattoos because I know this is something I will have on my body for the rest of my life. It has got to mean something to me. Like an ex said to me once: Tattoos are addictive. I agree.
No comments:
Post a Comment