During fall break, I had to do something I really did not want to do. I had to cancel a highly anticipated tattoo appointment. I was sick all break and then was put on antibiotics and that’s a no-no for the tattoo healing process. So, I made the tough call to DM my tattoo artist and call the whole thing off.
I am truly disappointed because this was going to be my tattoo fix for the next few months, so I didn’t have to pine over all the images I saw that crossed my social media pages. Now I’m back to wishing I could have every tattoo I like.
But right now, I’m just going to focus on the ones I have. Currently, I have 5 tattoos, and all but 2 are by different artists. Here is a brief description of what each one is; in the order that I got them done.
#1: The Aristocats
2 days after my 18th birthday, I got my first tattoo: 3 cats in a row from the Disney movie “The Aristocats”. It is on the inside of my left arm right under my elbow. This was my favorite movie as a kid, and I used to watch it on VHS on the old TV in my room when I was still in my childhood home. The fine-line style is done really well by one of the most talented artists I’ve seen in Buffalo.
#2: The statue Diana
The next two were done in the same session, but this was the one that she completed first. It is on my upper right arm and the state is nestled between daffodils and foliage that just brushed the top of my shoulder. I got the statue of Diana because I first saw it on a trip to The Met in NYC with my grandmother and I was just enamored with it. The daffodils surrounding it represent one of my favorite poems by William Wordsworth. This is my most meaningful tattoo, so it is my favorite.
#3: Symmetrical Flowers
The one was my most painful tattoo. It rests in the middle of my sternum, and I can’t even describe the pain that I felt. It is a bundle of flowers that are symmetrical coming out of one point in my chest. The flowers are lilies, lavender, and tulips. This tattoo has no deeper significance to me other than it looks pretty but it is one of my favorites.
#4: The statue Venus de Milo
I got this tattoo in May this year and it’s pretty meaningless to me, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t like it. I do have a theme of getting statues tattooed on me and when I saw an artist that I really liked had a flash of it I just had to make an appointment. It was extremely painful as it is down by my ankle on the side of my calf and there is some pretty heavy line work.
#5: “Live Deliberately”
This was a spontaneous tattoo. My boyfriend and I were down in Fort Myers, Florida this summer on vacation and the whole time I was joking with him saying that I should just walk into a random shop and get a tattoo. Just once, while we were sitting at a Waffle House for breakfast, my boyfriend played along and said, “Yeah that would be cool” and so it began. I decided to call a shop (that I thoroughly researched on Instagram) and ask if they had any walk-in availability for that day. Next thing I know, I’m in the seat getting the words “Live deliberately” permanently inked on the inside of my right bicep. The words do actually mean something to me, so it wasn’t totally reckless. It is one of the main lines from my favorite movie, “Dead Poets Society”, and one of my favorite poems, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately”, by Henry David Thoreau.
The most important lesson that I have learned about tattoos while getting them is that they don’t have to be super meaningful. If you want to get that Pinterest tattoo, get the tattoo. If you want your favorite song lyric tattooed, DM a local artist to set up the appointment.
I think life is too short for people to think that they can only get “important” things tattooed. I got my flowers because I saw a picture online and thought they were pretty. Don’t let anyone tell you what you can and cannot get inked.