light.

tattoos

•luke•

lia and i had finished eating and were looking out at the town over just talking. we were standing side by side leaning against the wooden railing. i had pointed out some cool places to go to in the town we were looking at.

"what was your first tattoo?" she asked randomly.

i pushed the sleeve of my shirt up so she could see the rose on my shoulder. i told her how my friend had gotten a tattoo machine in high school and gave me it for free.

"does it have any specific meaning or is it just random?"

"my mom's favorite flower is a rose," i explained.

"aw you're cute," she laughed.

i rolled my eyes at her. then i remembered how when she was drunk i thought i saw a tattoo on her thigh that i never actually got to see completely.

"do you have any tattoos?" i asked.

"i have three tattoos," she started. "i have a wave on one my right thigh and arrows on my left and the phases of the moon on a compass just under my armpit."

when she told me i remembered seeing the tattoos on her legs when she was drunk but i couldn't get a good look at them since i was a little focused on the fact that she was only wearing a bra and underwear. but i never saw the one under her armpit but that was a place that wasn't very noticeable.

"do they have any meaning?" i asked.

"yeah, i got the arrows right after my dad got arrested. they're supposed to symbolize moving forward. and the wave i got when i graduated. it's part of the japanese painting the great wave of kanagawa and for me it kind of symbolized how people don't see water as something strong even though it is."

i was amazed at her explanations for her tattoos. a lot of tattoos i had didn't even have meanings let alone meaning as deep as hers.

"what about the phases of the moon around the compass?" i asked noticing how she didn't talk about them yet, although it probably had just as deep meaning as the other two.

"when i was in middle school and high school i really liked greek and roman mythology and i really liked the stories about the moon goddess. her story kind of inspired the tattoo."

"what was her story?" i asked.

"it's a long story but it talks about the moon goddess, selene, used to ride her moon chariot around the earth making a full moon every night but after leaving it for a couple days and seeing how the world broke out in chaos, she started riding at different angles every night starting the phases of the moon to teach people that things will always get better," she explained.

"wow that's some story," i told her. i never knew much about greek mythology.

"yeah, there was also one quote about the moon that really inspired me getting the phases of the moon tattooed," she continued.

"what quote?"

"the moon was put in the sky to remind us that our darkest moments lead to our brightest," she stated.

again, her meaning behind her tattoos astounded me. the amount of thought she must have put into them was amazing.

"why around a compass though?" i asked. i understood the reason for the phases of the moon but i was still unclear why she had gotten them around a compass.

"a compass is used to help sailors not get lost at sea. to me the compass represents not getting lost in myself and that i will always be able to find my way out of my dark moments."

"wow," i stated. she gave me confused look not knowing why i was impressed. "your tattoos have so much meaning. most of mine are stupid and i don't think any of them have as much meaning as yours."

she laughed at what i said a little. i noticed how she looked over at the town again not really looking at anything in particular, just looking.

"actually for two out of three of my tattoos i just got them because i knew i wanted them but didn't really come up with the meanings until after i had them for a little while. the only one i really planned out the meaning before i got it was the arrow," she laughed.

that i understood completely. a lot of the tattoos i got because i liked them. i didn't really have a reason to get them other than i thought they looked cool. then after having them for a couple weeks i would come up with a good explanation for them.

but considering how many tattoos i had, it was hard to come up with meanings for all of them. a lot of them i got to remind me of good memories i had.

lia asked me to explain some of my more meaningful tattoos. i did have some meaningful tattoos but hers were definitely more deep than mine.

i showed her the tattoo i got of the chemical structure of nicotine on my wrist. i got it to remind myself that i overcame an addiction to nicotine and that i never wanted to go back to it. i wanted to remind myself that i got through it.

then there was the tattoo i had of jack and sally from the nightmare before christmas. it also had the lyrics "we can live like jack and sally if we want to" from the blink-182's song i miss you. the first concert i went to was blink-182 and they played i miss you. it was a really happy memory i had from high school.

i also had a skull with a banner that said "rock 'n' roll". it didn't have a ton of meaning but it was one of my favorites.