Of course, I love tattoos 24/7 – but this past week was special to be in particular. My best friend & I FINALLY went & got matching tattoos at our favorite shop (Serenity Tattoo!).

 

The design is our birth flowers (daffodil & carnation) in the shape of a heart. We’ve both been getting tattoos for awhile now but never had done one together. It felt nice to celebrate our friendship in this way – something that will be on our bodies forever.

While we were getting tattoo’d we chatted with our artist, Kristy. She always has all these fabulous stories — a few wild tales I cannot repeat here (wink) — and lots about the ink she’s done. It got me thinking: we all have our own personal reasons for getting the tattoos we get. You can SEE tattoos all over the place, but you’ll never know the stories behind those tattoos until you ask. So, I asked.

I reached out to my facebook friends to see some tats & hear (or well, read) the stories behind them. I was not disappointed.

Everyone has a story and a reason behind their ink – here are just a few.

Thank you SO much to those of you that shared your stories and ink with me.

 

Stacey

“The lyrics the Chris Young’s song, Drowning. Every 5 years I get a tattoo in honor of my Dad. I got this 2 years ago on the 30th anniversary of his passing. My Dad was killed in a motorcycle accident when he was 35 years old back in 1989. I was 14 my brother was 10. I was really close to my Dad. So losing him at a young age was devastating. I missed out on him seeing me go to prom, teaching me how to drive. Taking me to Bingo when I turned 16. That was something my Dad and his Mom did every Saturday night. So when I turned 16, she took me in honor of my Dad. She did the same when my brother turned 16. It’s something I used to do with her up until a few years ago. ( she passed away last year). Right after my dad passed away, my Mom went to Tennessee and she saw this no name artist sing a song called, If Tomorrow Never Comes. She told us she felt this song was written for her. To this day, when my Mom & I are together, this song comes on. For me, when I’m needing my Dad I ask for my song to play. One More Day by Diamond Rio. And right on cue this song will come on my Spotify. I have so many memories of him in such a small amount of time. There are days that feel like he just left, others it feels like an eternity. So 2 years ago, Drowning came out by Chris Young. 2 days later I actually met Chris for my 2nd meet and greet and I told him that I was going to get the lyrics tattooed on me because it was going to be 30 years since my Dad passed and that every 5 years I get something in honor of him. Because the lyrics are true, Missing You Comes in Waves, And Tonight I’m Drowning. But for me, I don’t look at it as being sad. I look at it as having 14 wonderful years with him. Memories I hold close to my heart! I also have a tattoo that says One More Day in his handwriting. We took the letters from a note he wrote my mom when I was a baby. And was able to have my special song tattooed with his handwriting. The cross tattoo I got on his 20th anniversary of his passing. The cross has a wedding with his name, birthdate and date of passing. The heart has a wedding band and that’s for my mom. My mom gave me my Dads wedding band and I wear it everyday.” -Stacey

 

Kristina

“Over the pass few year I had gotten pregnant and then miscarried. In Feb 2019 I got a positive test and was happy but sad at the same time thinking I was going to lose my baby at any moment. I changed my diet, cut caffeine, I did everything hoping I wouldn’t lose my child. Once I found out I was having a girl I was thrilled but still was waiting for the other shoe to drop. It wasn’t until I was giving birth that it finally sunk in that I was a mom, and in that moment I knew I needed something on my body to mark my pride and joy. So her footprint is there to follow me on our journey. The Minnie clock was my first birthday theme as a child so it felt right to continue. The time inside is when she was born and the date and her name was cause I loved the name but wanted to be unique with the spelling.” -Kristina

 

Michelle

“My grandkids fingerprints as balloons and their names as balloon strings.” -Michelle

 

 

Jamie

“Memorial piece I had done on the one year anniversary of my niece Jade’s death from her suicide…7/11/17. Anyways….so the tattoo…a friend of mine Justin that I met while I was at SMCC did it…I’d seen some of his work when he was doing work at Coopas. So originally I was going to use a pattern Jade had free handed and make it into an armband, but I decided I wanted something more meaningful, and I imagined her spirit ascending a staircase as she transitioned into her next existence…call it heaven or whatever, but I told Justin what I was thinking, and within like an hour he texted me a picture of what he had designed and it was EXACTLY what I pictured to the point that it instantly brought me to tears looking at it. When I texted the picture to my sister, she had the exact same reaction to it. I had him subtlety add her time of death 11:11 7/11/17. Anyways I’m really glad I had it done because a lot of people ask about it and it is really therapeutic to talk about her loss. It was featured in a magazine article about him not long afterwards.” -Jamie

 

George

“Mine actually started back in the 80s when I had sort of a bet with a guy I worked with at a restaurant about who would be first to get a tattoo. I finally did – a small eagle on my back shoulder. Over the many years it got to looking pretty bad and faded, and a friend of mine who was a tattoo artist said he could fix it with a cover up of a wolf (to go with my name). I finally took him up on that and although it was VERY PAINFUL…it come out great!” -George

 

Jami

“For years I threw the idea of getting a tattoo around in my head. My four sisters each had at least one. My parents were never keen on the idea, but my mom has always supported us on our life choices. A tattoo is a life choice…a big one! Knowing it was something I would have forever, I couldn’t fully commit. At 37, I became pregnant with my first child. My boyfriend, now fiance Dustin, and I were elated. You start thinking about the future, first milestones, who the baby will look like, what kind of personality he or she will have…all the dreams you have. At 17 weeks, on a Friday, my water ruptured out of the blue. I went to the hospital. I was told that the baby only had a 5% chance of surviving due to no visible amniotic fluid. Everyone there was great, very caring. I was sent home on bedrest and was to see my doctor the following Monday. My doctor did her thing and sent me to Portland to see a specialist. The next day, we were on the road on what seemed like the longest trip of my life. We decided to pick boy and girl names on the drive. We decided whatever the name of our child, it was going to be meaningful and strong. I wanted William as the middle name for a boy. It was my dad’s middle name. He died of cancer when I was 14. Dustin chose the first name, Emmanuel. Emmanuel means ‘God with us’. For a girl, Grace Ellen was chosen. Grace was a strong girl’s name and Ellen is Dustin’s mom’s name. The specialist sat us down and gave us all of the ins and outs of what can happen and our options. We could try to get the baby to 23 weeks (viability stage in the State of Maine where they will do anything medically necessary for the survival of the child…not 22 weeks, 1 day mind you). We could also choose to abort. This has never or will never be an option for me. We flat out refused terminating the pregnancy. This baby was ours; perfect and pure. This baby was a fighter. If he or she was going to fight for their life so were we. At this point, the heartrate hovered around 169 and the baby was doing gymnastics despite no measurable amniotic fluid whenever checked. If we could keep the baby in until 23 weeks, I would be sent back to Portland until I delivered or 34 weeks, whichever came first. Sadly, we never made it to 23 weeks. 2:30am on Friday, September, 28, 2018 Emmanuel William Marcia entered this world at home. He was perfect; 10 fingers, 10 toes, long legs, button nose. We were taken to the hospital and got to hold him for 14 hours. I was given the option to stay the night, but knew if I did, I would not be able to hand him over. When I had to leave him, I broke. Part of me died that day. I became a different person. I didn’t want to live, even contemplated suicide. All I wanted to do was hold my baby and never let him go. My heart ached like I had never felt before. I didn’t think I would make it. Over the next few months, through the help of family and friends, I found parts of myself again. I learned that it was okay to laugh again; to find joy in things. I learned to live again, differently, but live nonetheless. I was standing on the cusp of life and death. Slowly, I decided to live and crawled up for my endless grief. Long story short, I decided to honor my child with this tattoo. The footprints are a copy his actual prints, super tiny and fragile. I chose my left inner wrist area because it has a direct line to my heart. I can also look at it and touch it whenever I feel sadness or anger creep in. Even though I now have more good days than bad, it is a comfort to know that I have a physical representation of our Emmanuel on me every day.” -Jami

 

Chris

“I was diagnosed at 18 with Hodgkins lymphoma and then came back at 19. I had a stem cell transplant in Boston and am now 7 years cancer free. Had a trial drug and my own stem cell transplant and now 7 years clean. I was extremely happy once I got it. I felt like I was officially cancer free. It didn’t hurt much at all. Just happy to check off that I am officially clear and hope it doesn’t come back.” -Chris

 

I would LOVE to do this again in the future so if you’d like your ink & story to be featured please shoot me a note on Facebook (Courtney Ross), Instagram (@justcourtneyblog) or email (courtney@1019por.com)!