Just like a tattoo...I will always have you...

I've definitely had tattoos on the brain lately.  I got my first one in April, a few days after my car crash.  It's a memorial for my childhood best friend, a ladybug that says "vale tudo" (Portuguese for "anything goes") around it.  I had been planning it since I was 12 years old.  Finally I made an appointment at State Street Tattoo.  No way was I going to let a car crash get in the way of being so close to something I wanted for so long.  
Yesterday, I got another tattoo.  This one says "atmen," which means "breathe" in German.  It's in black tribal-looking script on my right side.  This tattoo joins the "vale tudo" ladybug on my left foot.  I biked seven miles from my dorm at UMBC to Ghost Town Tattoo in Ellicott City, only to realize I had forgotten my ID.  So I biked the seven miles back home and then called a cab to come get me - no way was I going to make it home after getting a tattoo on my ribs anyway.  After an hour of tattooing, here is the final product.  I think it looks fabulous:

People get tattoos for many reasons.  Some are rebelling.  Others feel empowered.  Sometimes tattoos are used for identification purposes.  I chose to be tattooed because I can.  I hold the power to decide what goes on my body, what clothes I wear, makeup I put on, shoes in which I torture my feet.  I choose to hold certain memories close by physically making them a part of me.  Every morning when I wake up I look at my ladybug and smile.  My mom always says, "Every time you get a tattoo, another door that you didn't even know was open slams shut."  However, it has been my experience that this is not the case.  I am a student at the number one up and coming national university, I have a wonderful boyfriend, great job, and loving family.  I think I'm pretty well off, if I do say so myself.  My tattoos are strategically placed so that they are invisible, should I choose to hide them.

So do I regret my tattoos?  Absolutely not.  Will I regret them when I'm 80?  Absolutely not.  Some see it as self-mutilation, I see it as self-beautification.  

My tattoos are beautiful.