The Story Behind OUR Tattoos....

I want to start by showing you a picture of the final product of our tattoo's....

 

 I absolutely love it.

Tattoos aren't for everyone. I get that. I was one of those people for most all of my life. It wasn't until Mom was diagnosed with cancer that I started looking at tattoos differently. I all of a sudden felt like I had a reason to get one..... so to speak. Mom, Tyler, and I talked about getting one pretty early on in her diagnosis. We wanted matching ones and we wanted to go together to get them, but we never could decide what we wanted. I am now thankful we didn't do anything cancer related because quite frankly, I am mad with cancer & I don't want to look at something everyday to remind me of what I feel it took from me. I think a "ribbon" tattoo or something to that nature would anger me each day and instead the one we got does nothing but bring a smile to my face and happiness in my heart and without a doubt I know that it always will.

It is hard to explain the joy that it brings us. 

For two years we had been contemplating getting ink.  Anyone that knows me knows that I am far from a spur of the moment person. I did a lot of research and talked to several people before finally saying.... "okay".  I wanted the Biblical principle behind them. I wanted to know all that I could before getting it. I found several articles, but this one (click link) is one of my favorites.  I know some of you reading this are going... absolutely not.... I don't care what kind of tattoo it is, I am NOT getting one and I feel that God doesn't want us to do that to ourselves. Kind of like the article, most of you probably have your ears pierced, have cut your hair, you like your steaks rare, etc. and no judging from me if you are like that. I WAS like that too. BUT I also had my ears pierced... twice... had a belly ring, cut my hair, cut my nails, etc. so this article really opened my eyes. I had someone tell me, "Well tattoos just aren't our thing".... and that is okay. They aren't for everyone. It didn't hurt my feelings.... but I just wanted to do this post to kind of open the eyes of some. I now see tattoos as interesting. I like to know the story behind them. Some people have beautiful stories behind theirs... some just randomly get theirs. Like the guy that did mine... he said only 4 out of 74 of his (yes 74) meant something.

It is no secret that Tyler and I were very close to our Mom. We were close before she had cancer, but we got even closer during the process. Learning to live life without her has been incredibly difficult. She was a huge part of our everyday lives. This tattoo allows us to "visibly" see her everyday. We already knew she was "with us", but this way we look at our arms and actually see her. We know her handwriting. We saw her write this note. It means more to us than it ever would anyone else.

This is the original note....

I was at home one night earlier this year rocking my babies & it came to me out of nowhere..... get Mom to write I love you and that is your tattoo. I wasn't watching anything on TV to make me think about it, it truly was very random.  I immediately got my phone and sent Mom and Tyler a text telling them. Come to find out Tyler had thought the same thing a couple days prior but hadn't told us yet. How about that? 

We kept telling Mom over and over and over to write it.... but she kept procrastinating. When she finally wrote it, it was in about March/April and by that time it was hard for her to concentrate or write anything. She was very shaky when trying to write. That's why some of her letters are scrunched together.... that is also what makes it even more special to us. 

To us it is more than "just a tattoo". Every time we look at our arms, it is like Mom took an ink pen and wrote on us. The guy that did it did an amazing job. He was very nervous.... he said original hand writings make him want to smoke more (ha)... he wanted it to be as perfect as we wanted it. Honestly, that is the main reason I held off getting it. I was so afraid it would mess up or not look like her handwriting. The "foreverness" of it is what always made me nervous. But oh am I glad that Kyle basically gave me no choice but to go last Friday night. 

I am not asking anyone to like our tattoos. I wanted you to see the meaning and thought that went in behind us getting them. It's not like we just went and got a random cactus in a flower pot or something. We got our deceased Mama's handwriting. It is beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. 

I will say that I wanted it small and on my wrist. When we got there, he explained to me that he couldn't/wouldn't do it that small or right there. He said it would eventually "blob" together and something this important did NOT need to do that. He also said the way she did her "yo" in you would definitely smear together because of how close she did them. I said, "Well can't you just write an "o" in"? He quickly said, "no..... that wouldn't be hers.... that would be like me doing a portrait and putting someone else's mouth on it". I was like wow.... good point. I was just dead set on where I wanted it, so it took me a little bit to be "okay" with where it is. Once he placed it, I fell in love with where it was immediately. I wouldn't want it smaller... or bigger (Tyler's is bigger)..... for me.... it was absolutely perfect.

This was after he scanned it in, sized it, and placed it. Once he placed it, he did say he could do it at my wrist area and facing me, but it would almost wrap around my wrist. I didn't want that.

Right after

 He told me it would feel like unicorn kisses... HA! It did NOT feel like unicorn kisses. I would imagine those would be very soft and pleasant like. When he finished I said well that certainly did not feel like unicorn kisses. He laughed and said.... well unicorn kisses while they are head butting you. I said that's more like it.

I kept staring..... and smiling....

Kyle got a wedding band :)

This was right when Tyler got finished.

We just kept saying we could not believe we actually did it. We felt like a bunch of wild youngins lol.

I took this one this morning to show Tyler. Most of my scabbing is gone. I still have some and my oh my no one ever told me how much they itch when the scabs start coming off. I am cleaning it and doctoring it several times a day :). Very much proud of this.