My older sister and I both really wanted tattoos, but we just knew our parents wouldn’t want us to get them (which was strange because they both have tattoos). We were ready to fight for them.
A couple of years ago, my sister came up with the idea that we all get a tattoo together as a family. We both put a lot of thought into it, made sure we had all the facts, looked at tattoo shops, and made sure we really wanted tattoos before we went to our parents.
Once Hannah finally built up the courage and asked, my mom didn’t even think about it before saying, “Sure!” As you can imagine, we were shocked; we put a lot of thought and preparation into this, so we were ready to convince them if need be.
We all spent a ton of our free time looking on Pinterest, the Internet, and drawing up some of our own ideas to try and find the perfect tattoo that represented our family while also making it one that we could all agree on.
One lazy day, I was lounging around with my mom when she was scrolling through Pinterest and claimed she found the perfect one. She looked at me and asked what was one thing we ALWAYS did as a family? I instantly knew exactly what it was. She showed me the picture, and I instantly fell in love. I knew it was the perfect thing for all of us—it represented our family so well.
My mom texted in our family group chat saying she found the perfect one and then asked my sister and dad “what is something that we always do together?” My sister responded back, “Eat dinner together?!” My mom and I kinda laughed, agreed, but then laughed again, because how strange would it be to get a permanent tattoo on your body of something dinner related? Strange, I know.
Don’t worry, we don’t have little forks and knives tattooed on our bodies! My mom responded back with a picture of a little tiny bike tattoo and everyone fell in love right away.
Ever since I was little, I remember going on family bike rides. We would always pack up our bikes and go all over Minnesota. My very first childhood memory is of a family bike ride: me riding on the back of the tag-along (not really peddling, because who actually pedals when they are on a tag-along?) and out of nowhere, it just started pouring down on us. It was such a fun memory though and one I’ll really never forget, now that it is forever tattooed on my arm.
Biking is something my family has always loved. When Hannah and I were really little, we sat in the little bucket seats behind our mom and dad. As we got older we sat in the burley and then the tag-along until finally we were able to ride our own bikes right next to Mom and Dad.
Even now when Hannah and I are in college, over the summer when we’re back we still go on family bike rides together. We pack up the bikes and head somewhere new, or we just bike around all the beautiful paths our hometown has to offer.
We all got our tattoos last year over spring break. We were home together and just wanted to chat with a tattoo artist to tell her our idea to see what she could do with it. She loved the idea and drew us up a little design; we all loved it. It was so dainty and cute, and she let us each put our own little spin on it to make each one unique.
As we compared schedules with the artist and tried to set a date to come back and get them done, we realized not many of our free days aligned with her free days; we thought we were going to have to wait until summer break to come back and get them done. But then the tattoo artist said “what are you guys doing tonight?” and before we knew it, we were getting ready for our tattoos THAT night!
Right then and there, we decided to just go for it. For as long as we had been planning on getting these tattoos, it wasn’t much of a spur of the moment kind of thing but, somehow it still was. It made it that much more fun and spontaneous that it just so perfectly worked out the way it did.
Hannah and I were a bit nervous because these were our first ever tattoos. But the tattoo artist was amazing; she talked to us the whole way through it and made sure we weren’t in too much pain. She was super sweet and did an amazing job on all of our tattoos.
I was the second last to get mine done and I chose to get it on my upper arm instead of my ankle like everyone else did. It hurt so much worse than I imagined!! I had goosebumps all up and down my arms and tears kept escaping my eyes (but I didn’t cry)!
In the end, we all left with matching little bike tattoos that were each a little bit different and unique just like us. Hannah’s has a heart, my mom’s has a couple little flowers, mine has one bigger flower, and my dad’s has thicker wheels and thicker handle bars.
Having something permanently on my body to represent my family is truly so special. Every time I see it, it just reminds me of home and that no matter how far apart we all are, they are still always there for me. I love when people see my tattoo and ask about it or just tell me they like it because then I can tell them my whole family has them. Usually people think it’s super cute that we all have a matching tattoo, and it makes me feel so good to brag about how awesome my family is every now and then.
I love my family so much and wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world. Getting my very first tattoo with them was such a cool experience, and I am so blessed to have such amazing people in my life that I get to share my little bike tattoo with.