"You're never going to get a job with those tattoos all over your arms!" "How to you expect to be taken seriously, when you have visible tattoos?" "You're going to regret those when you're older." These are just some of the many comments I receive on a regular basis. I'm 19. I'm a college student. I'm majoring in Health Science and I hope one day to the an APRN. I have 4 tattoos and 1 piercing.
During most of my high school career, I worked at Dunkin Donuts. When I transferred to a new store in the summer before my senior year, the manager noticed one of my tattoos on my wrist and said, "I'm going to need you to cover that up." Excuse me? I responded with "How?" to which he replied, "You're going to have to wear long sleeves." I live in New England, and as other New Englanders know, the heat up here can be unpredictable and intense. Asking someone to wear long sleeves in the summer, while surrounded by hot ovens and hot coffee pots, was ridiculous. All because I have tattoos.
I got my first tattoo when I was 16. It's a small one on my foot and is almost always covered up. When I got this tattoo, I put a lot of thought of what I wanted, because it's permeant. I decided to go with a quote saying "La Vita è Bella" which translates to "Life is beautiful." This quote carries a lot of meaning to me personally, life gets crazy sometimes and its easy to forget how beautiful it truly is.
I got my second tattoo later in my 16th year, this one carries much more meaning than the first because I some how convinced my mom to get a matching tattoo with me. We got matching hearts on our wrists. Even though I'm 19 going on 20 and I'm living 120 miles away from home, I'm still just as close to my mom as I was when I was living in the same house as her.
When I turned 18, I decided I wanted to treat myself to a little birthday present. I wanted something that was going to represent my family as a whole. No matter how much we grow and separate we'll alway still be together. I left school, went to the tattoo parlor, and got 3 large tiger lilies on my shoulder.
In February of 2015, I lost someone very close to me, my grandmother. It was completely unexpected and I was devastated. I had just gotten my tattoo on my shoulder 4 days before. I really wanted to get something that I could have in memory of her. So later in the year I decided to get a quote on my forearm.
Every one of my tattoos has a meaning to it. Tattoos are my way of sharing my story and expressing myself. When people tell me I probably won't get a job because I choose to express myself artistically is truly sad. My work ethic shouldn't be determined simply because I have tattoos or piercings.
