In my opinion, tattoo's should have some sort of meaning, anything, as insignificant as it may seem to other people. I think if you're going to have something stamped on you're body for the rest of your life, you need to take into consideration that it will be with you when you're turning 30 and married, 40 with kids, 50 and way into your career etc. Another thing, coming from a fine artist's mouth, if you are planning on getting a tattoo, make sure your tattoo artist is just that, an artist...and a good one. You don't want to be one of those people who ends up on a bad tattoo website. It's very important to check out their portfolio and make sure you like their artistry and their style. If you don't get what I mean by that look at the picture below. You can clearly tell the men who did my mom's, my sisters's, and mine all have different artistic styles. Another thing to make sure about is that the tattoo parlor is sanitary, so you don't end up with an ink poisoning or any sort of infection from them rushing and using unsanitary equipment.
Having been a fan of tattoos for as long as I can remember it goes without saying that I was planning on getting one for a while, but when my mom got her's it was settled. I would get one, some day. But what to get? Here's what happened.....
Once upon a time, haha, my mom and dad were both military, Army to be specific, and at one point (before I was born) when my family moved to Germany, they stayed in the basement of a house where this little old lady lived. My parent's, in keeping with the proper military lifestyle, referred to my sister's as 'ladies' rather than 'girls' or 'kids'. Well one day the little old lady asked my mom if she was calling them ladies, "as in ladybugs?" Well my mom then started calling my sister's her little ladybugs, and when I was born, her 2 ladybugs soon became 3. Anything ladybugs then blossomed into an obsession, and everywhere you look, in all 4 our homes (my 2 sister's, my mom's, and mine) you will see ladybugs everywhere.
Well fast forward 20 some years to my mom’s 40th birthday. She had always wanted a tattoo but never knew what to get. Then one day it dawned on her that she should get 3 ladybugs to represent my 2 sisters and I, so she did. We had all planned on getting a ladybug tattoo on our right ankle’s to match my moms. My middle sister never followed through with getting her’s but Shannon and I faced the pain to get our’s done. Me when I turned 18 and Shannon when she turned 21.
I've now had mine for 4 years, and to this day can not think of any other tattoo that would be suitable for my body that would hold the same amount of meaning to me. So for now, that's all I have. Ideas have come and gone but none of them have ever stuck and been followed through. However, recent life events and the one year anniversary of something special (not me and John) has inspired to me potentially hit up a tattoo parlor again. You'll see it in pictures I'm sure, but until then, it will remain a secret.
I would love to hear what tattoo's you have and what they mean to you! Please leave a comment below :) Thanks for reading everyone! xoxo -Viktoria
