Tattoos

I have many passions in my life, just one is tattoos. I guess I should explain that for years I thought tattoos were rather nasty but after my son started getting tattooed when he turned 18, I started taking a closer look and started learning about the people who are tattooed. Every two years I have to take a behind the wheel road test to keep my CDL (commerical drivers license) and one time my examiner had a small beautiful tattoo on her wrist which I had to ask her about. She explained that she had it done before she could afford gold jewelry. The proverbial light bulb went off in my head and within a couple years I had my first tattoo, a small vine on my right wrist. Of course that was only going to be my only tattoo until the next year I had the insides of my ankles done, one with a small skunk (my motorcycle mascot) and the other with a pair of skunk footprints (to honor the many miles traveled by motorcycle). Of course I wasn't going to have anymore done, until the next year when I had a decorative piece done on my upper left arm to honor my Dad who died in 1999, and my Mom and my grandparents and my ancestry. In this tattoo is hidden a S for Striegel, a P for Phillips and a C for Cindi. The next year brought a celtic tree of life to honor my children and grandchildren on my upper right arm. The year I turned 50 I had a oriental dragon down on my left thigh. I was born in the year of the dragon. I am also a green, water dragon so my dragon is green. My artist, Tattoo Joe Marzolf from Roadhouse Tattoos in Holland, NY then said I should get a Koi and the more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea. Turns out in oriental mytholoy, the Koi swims upstream and if it's makes it's way through the rapids he is rewarded by being turned into a dragon. This then became a three year project and finally a fully sleeved thigh including a tiger (my son was born in the year of the dragon) and flowers (my daughter was born in the year of the rat but didn't want to be represented by a rat), then we added a pair of cranes for my husband and me. When we divorced his crane (cranes represent faithfulness in oriental art) was inked yellow to represent cowardice (another whole story). The background of this tattoo is bamboo and shading. I also have a celtic heart on my chest to represent a broken heart held together by a vine. (As Carly Simon sings "there is more room in a broken heart). On the back of my neck is a sun/moon with a shooting star to show the different sides of my personality. Above my butt, sometimes called a tramp stamp, is the Yamaha Logo placed between two tribal oriental dragons. This past spring I had the cover of John Irving's latest book inked, a simple broken heart with the banner that reads "Until I Find You" which is the title of his most recent book. I've always wanted to honor my love of JI's books and this was just too perfect. Tattoo Joe dressed this tattoo up with tribal designs. At the same time I had Indian Larry's Logo tattooed on the inside of my left arm. His logo is a question mark and reminds me of the mysteries of like. This is to keep me on my toes and also to honor the memory of Larry. Am I finished with my tats? No way! I have others in the planning stages. I have big plans for my full back piece. I'll publish pics in the near future. I think I took up too much room here to post any now!