Tattoos and Regret

I have five tattoos.

Each are special to me.
All of them mean something to me.

Sometimes they mean regret.

My first tattoo I got at 18, brought my mom with me and of course it had the 'typical tribal' markings along with the design.   That part of it I regret.  The symbol inside, not at all.

I love the elegance of the two figures, they are clearly in love.  I got it because I am a believer in love.
The beauty of two people loving one another, and all that other mushy crap.

This hurt, it hurt a hell of a lot.  I remember the sensation of it going up my spine, my face turning white.   What the hell did I know about pain as an 18 year old, minus the old self piercing of the ears.

Time went on and I figured,
     "Hey!  I'm a pro at this tattoo stuff!   None of my other friends have any yet, I'm going to be bad ass and get another!"

Enter regret fairy tattoo here.

Please ignore left over belly button ring hole.  That is now done with, thank you childbirth.   

I wouldn't be cliche enough if I didn't have the 'fairy' tattoo, and the tramp stamp now,   Come on!

(Sighhhhh.... my twenty five year old self grimaces at these)

Anyways...

Time goes on....

Still love tattoos, and hell they're addicting.

Decide to get my name on my body, what will eventually be my Maiden name.  

Now this is where I start to put some thought in?

I get this tattoo, my last name in fancy script.

R. O. Y.

Maiden name, now I'm Married.  Perfect.

Now I love this tattoo, my only regret is that is is very very visible.  In the teaching profession that can be tough at times.  But, times are a changing and tattoos are becoming much more accepted.

To continue... I wanted yet another, a quote that I live by and that is close to my heart.

"This above all, to thine own self be true."   You know, classic Shakespeare and all that.   I'm a classy gal.

A classy gal with a tramp stamp, and a fairy tattoo.   Ha.

Anyways, I wanted it delicate and small.

One of my favorites, my mother was going to possibly get it tattooed on her after a difficult time.   She's a little ink shy, so I got it hand stamped onto a bracelet for her from Etsy.   

As a female, as a person in general I've been through  a lot.   As we all have... 

But, I've went through a lot of personal struggles, identity issues, and over all self image crap that unfortunately still follows me.  It's a reminder to myself to be who I am, and not change myself for what others want.

Deep, I know.

I had to make up for that fairy some how.

Lastly.

My back o' the neck tattoo.   I had a hell of a time trying to photograph this one. I ended up with a blurry, crooked, greasy hair picture.  

Attractive.  Very Attractive.

It's super blurry, but the idea of the tattoo is the birthday of my dad, mom, brother, and I.

My immediate family. 

Well, I didn't think of the fact that this one is SUPER visible, and my immediate family kind of changes as time goes on.  

People ask me if I'm going to put my son's birthday on there.  I'm done with that tattoo in my opinion.  I try to wear my hair down at work, the kids always ask me if I have phone numbers tattooed on my neck.

Enter big regret sign here.

So all in all, as much as I say I regret my tattoos ... Because sometimes I do..... they all hold some kind of meaning to me, I did them all at a certain time of my life and they've become part of me.  Like it or not.

I look at it with humor, and I've learned.  I didn't rush into a tattoo for my son, I'm going to plan it.   

His tattoo I think is going to be another script like piece, as clearly I'm very into simple lines and text.   Also, it will be on a more discreet part of my body.

You live, you learn.

P.S.  This is my first linky party post, and my first time connecting with other bloggers so I'm over the moon with excitement!   Thank you ILYMTC!