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The elephant in the room

Why my largest tattoo is the most sentimental

By SuzieLouisePublished 4 years ago 3 min read
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My elephant tattoo on located on my left thigh

Elephants have always been my favourite animal, everyone around me knew this, though most people never knew why.

I was never close to any of my father's side of the family, they didn't want to have anything to do with us and quite frankly the feeling was mutual. But there was always one person who never let us believe we were unwanted or unloved, he made sure we knew that he loved us and that we were important to him.

My Great Granddad was one of the most important people in my life, he had such an interesting life and he loved telling stories to us. When he was younger, he was soldier, he never spoke much about that though, no he spoke more about what he did after that. He used to work at Taronga Zoo, his job was to do the elephant rides; he always said it was the best thing he ever did and that the elephants became like family.

He would talk about the elephants constantly, how they were beautiful creatures that never forgot, that they were intelligent and that when you see them it's hard to take your eyes off them.

This whole tattoo is an ode him as well as the values he taught me, the things that will forever remind me of who I am and where I come from.

The elephant and the poppy flowers are my Great Granddad, while the rest are things he taught me or things he said to me.

Apple blossom flowers representing peace and hope, reminding me the there is always hope for better no matter what the situation is, and peace in who I am and how my life turns out.

The lotus flower is representation of self-regeneration and rebirth, because lotus flowers can bloom and produce the most beautiful flower even with its roots in the dirtiest water; it shows that it doesn't matter what kind of situation you came from or how bad it was, you can still be a beautiful person despite that.

The final part of the tattoo is the triquetra or the trinity knot, which can have many different meanings depending on the person. For me personally it means past, present and future and how they all interconnect to make one whole. The reason I love this meaning is because I do believe that your past and present obviously impact and influence your future and therefore reminds me to be conscious of my actions and how I treat not only those around me but also myself.

Ever since I was young, I knew I would eventually get a tattoo dedicated to my Great Granddad, I also knew that it would be an elephant and my biggest one; what I didn't know was what else I wanted to incorporate into it. I spent years constantly thinking about it, I found designs I liked but they all seemed wrong and like there were things missing; I didn't want to get the tattoo until it was perfect and exactly what I wanted, until it was worthy of who it represented.

Finally, earlier this year I found a design that had almost everything I wanted, the only things missing were the poppy flowers and the triquetra, but after speaking with my tattoo artist I was able to fix that. She altered the design to now have everything I wanted, I was now ready to get it and just in time for my 23rd birthday. So on Monday 14th I spent from 10am to 5pm getting this beautiful work of art done, it was my gift to myself and it's my favourite piece I've had done; it's like having a part of my Great Granddad with me again and every time I look at it I feel like he's with me and that brings me a bit of peace.

humanity
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About the Creator

SuzieLouise

Just someone expressing her experiences in life and her emotions as well as her perspective on it all.

And some fun things too.

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