Ever since I was a child and I learned about tattoos being a thing, I’ve loved them. Pretty ones, ugly ones, faded ones, ones done over scars, all sorts of tattoos. There was even a time when I thought I’d become a tattoo artist myself.

I’m now approaching thirty, and I have a couple of tattoos. I’d still like to get many more eventually. I don’t want to be a tattoo artist for a handful of reasons, but my love for tattoos has never faded.

I love how representative of oneself tattoos are. They show your aesthetic tastes, as well as your experiences and stories. You can get colourful, realistic, detailed tattoos that make your body into a walking art gallery, or you could get black ink stamp-like tattoos, or even abstract designs. There is no limit to what is possible beyond what can be illustrated in ink. It’s beautiful.

I love how getting a tattoo can be a shared experience when you get one with a friend. Those ones become visual memories, so that whenever you look at it you are reminded of that person and what they mean to you. It can represent a stage in your life, shared with that other human that you care about.

My first tattoo was a small symbol on my wrist, of a semicolon, that I got with a friend in college. The semicolon is used to symbolize a choice to continue when you could have stopped – in a sentence, or in life. It represents the fight against mental illness and the choice to keep going. I’m not close with the friend I went with to get this tattoo anymore, but I cherish the connection we had. She reminded me to celebrate my successes and not take my failures to heart.

My second tattoo is my most recent one. I got it just a week ago as I write this, with my best friend. We bonded over a shared love of fantasy and stories, and have been friends a very long time. We each got a dragon tattoo, of different styles but similar in spirit. Mine is a fairy dragon and hers is a traditional dragon, added to a previous tattoo design. I love my tattoo and my best friend. She anchors me, inspires me, and brings me joy and support. We don’t live close to each other any more, but we’re still as close in our hearts. It was so good getting to visit her recently when I visited my hometown.

I have ideas for many future tattoos that I’d like to get. I’d love if I could have a story and connection to someone for each one, but if that connection is just with myself I’ll still be very happy.

I love being able to decorate the temple of my physical form, to express myself in how I appear to the world and what I carry with me. I am and always will be an artist, a lover of art, a creative soul, and I get a lot of happiness from being able to express that with tattoos that will permanently grace my body.

When I am old and grey, my skin will tell the story of my life. I’ll have wrinkles, stretch marks, scars, and tattoos.