Tattoo?
- of course or no way !
I’m curious, do you tattoo? Do you have tattoo’s, appreciate a beautiful artistic skin painting? Or are you opposed to the inking of skin?
I didn’t get my first until I was forty. It was the marking of a big transition in my life. I knew what I wanted and I searched the entire county extensively for the right artist to create it. I couldn’t be happier with it. It serves as a lifelong supportive hand on my should reminding me that I’ve got this!
The dragonfly represents, transformation, adaptability and renewal. To me it’s all the people that made my transformation, renewal opportunities and ability to adapt possible.
Ten years later I was ready for another tattoo. Tattoo’s date back thousands of years, serving therapeutic purposes, symbols of protection and fertility, social status, tribal identity, they were used to brand criminals and of course into modern times of personal artistic expression.
My second tattoo was a monarch butterfly. My Mom loved monarchs. I’ve always seen them as a heart tether between us. I was over three thousand miles away from Mom, she was deep into the fog of Alzheimer’s, I was on Southport Island, ME when thousands of monarchs appeared and I knew Mom was with me. This was only one of many heart tethering monarch moments I’ve been blessed to experience.
“Most of all I shall remember the monarchs “
-Rachel Carson
Did it hurt? That’s the question I hear the most, the answer is yes! Yes it does! The monarch on top of my foot hurt the most, but not enough to stop me from getting tattoo number three a few years later.
In honor of Mom, who had recently passed I wanted to pay homage not only to her and the amazing Mom she was but to her parents, my Grandparents as well. They all began life in Illinois, the state flower of Illinois is the violet. Growing up we always had a patch of violets in the yard, it was easy to decide that tattoo number three would be three violets tied together by the Alzheimer’s ribbon. 💜
How do you choose your tattoos? I’m feeling the stirrings for another, it’s a blank slate right now but a dream or experience will reveal an image when it’s time.