A Walking Book

On my body, I have sixteen tattoos. All different sizes and tell their own story about who I was and am. Rather tell all the stories, I will tell what I consider my three most impactful tattoos. All three were done based on a drawing I drew myself; each has its own deeply embedded story and each carry with them a memory I hold dear. Most importantly, they all hold the same themes, Death, Rebirth and Time.

There was a point in my life where I was going down the wrong path. I hung out with the wrong people, I had no respect for myself and I allowed others to take advantage of me. It was at this time the drawing for my first tattoo came about. I wanted a cross attached to a compass with a ribbon flowing around it with the scriptures Ecclesiastes 3:1, “ To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven,” and Psalms 23:4, “ Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: For thou art with me; Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me,”. From the finished product, they were some changes done but, none that took away from the overall meaning. Walk fearlessly in my truth, knowing that everything happens in its own time and for a reason. The saying, “ It’s may not come when you want it but, it’s always right on time,” was one of my biggest inspirations and still is which is why this is in my top three of my favorite tattoos. Another reason is because I got it around the anniversary of my Great- Grandmother’s death. She was a very spiritual person and was always there to remind me in the quietest voice but with piercing word choice that I could and should do better. After her death, my father would reference her when I or my brother would get into big trouble so it seemed like she was there either protecting us or just helping us realize we could be better without having to be harshly punished.

My next tattoo happened soon after the one previously talked about and it is based off a song I’ve love since I was five called Waterfalls by TLC. In the song, specifically the rap, Left eye says, “ I seen a rainbow yesterday; But too many storms have come and gone; leaving a trace of not one God given ray; Is it because my life is ten shades of gray; I hope all ten fade away; seldom praise Him for the sunny days…”. On my arm is an hourglass representing time, what a lot of people say life is and what I feel we all take for granted. Inside the hourglass is clouds on the top half covering the sun with an eye under the clouds crying. The tears from the eye is going through the funnel part pouring into the bottom half of the hourglass but, instead of a bottom part, there’s roses growing all around from the nutrients of the tears and storms. I saying to everyone when they ask what it means is Over time, the pains and storms you go through in life help you grow into the person and life that you want and need to flourish, but just like all things, it takes time (hourglass) , energy( sun), work( tears/storms) and patience (still water at the bottom) to get to it.

The most recent tattoo is dedicated to my brother who was murdered. He was a huge fan of anime and dragons. I did not get to know him for long and I did not meet him until I was almost 16 and he was 14. One of his first stories he told me was about a character who owned a dragon and had stones to represent them. When he passed, I tried to find the right tattoo, even getting a dragon head before even getting the right idea for the tattoo I wanted, it took a little over a year but I found the perfect tattoo and even added things that seemed like him. It is a Dragon and a Phoenix fighting, the Phoenix has a flower called a violet, his birth flower, in his hand while the dragon has an amethyst, his birth stone, in his claw. Since my brother loved to tell stories, the story I give to people about this tattoo is that the Dragon and Phoenix are fighting because the phoenix came to collect my brother for the next phase and the dragon was unwilling to let go, so the phoenix took the body and spirit ( the flower) and the dragon took the stone ( the memories). Basically, even though he is not here, there is always a part of him still felt and near. In the three years I got to know him, he made a lasting impact on where I wanted to go in life so I put a reminder on me to never let go of a dream because tomorrow isn’t promised.

Out of sixteen tattoos, half were from drawing I did but none of them hit home quite like these. They feel timeless. I get told that when I get older, ill regret them but to me they are apart of my history and my story that can be shared without words.