Etched in my Heart, and Skin {PowerHouseCreatives Contest}

Hey there friends! I'm setting aside the food and fitness for a story of love and tattoos today. I promised @foxyspirit I would join in on her tattoo contest and share one of my most meaningful pieces of body art. This just so happens to fit nicely into the latest @steemitbloggers/#powerhousecreatives contests to write a love story. Everyone gives and receives love a little differently, but in my family we literally wear our love on our "sleeves". Pun intended. 😉

I don't believe I have shared a lot about these two, but their union created yours truly. They celebrated 40 years of marriage this past August, with all of its ups and downs. I think it's a true testament to their commitment that they survived having 3 daughters (I am the middle child in case you were wondering). We definitely didn't make it easy on them, especially those pesky teenage years. I am particularly grateful that they managed to find that challenging balance of providing us with discipline, support, love and a strong work ethic. Not to mention loyalty. I am happy that as an adult I have such an open and caring relationship with each of them.

Obviously you can see both of them have their own tattoos, and my dad in particular has plenty to represent all of his ladies. You can see the K on one arm is for me (Katie). Further down on that same arm he has a traditional banner and rose for each of us. In addition he has quite a few dragon tattoos from a number of different styles. My mom has a nice little collection, as well. My sisters and I all have a few ourselves, and even each have a matching one to represent our sisterhood (with all of ITS ups and downs, haha). The one of mine that I am choosing to share with you today, however, is the one I got to physically represent the unconditional love I have for my parents.

It is not one most people get to see very often, but I chose the spot on my ribs to be close to my heart. Yes, it hurt. The rib area is not a pleasant location for needles. When choosing that spot I didn't realize that I am more tender on my left side, as well. Not that tattoos are generally pleasant anyway, but some parts of the body are much less sensitive than others. Obviously the discomfort isn't so bad that it turns us off for more as there are very few people that I know with only one tattoo. I think @foxyspirit agrees that they can be quite addicting. 😜

Above is a close up shot of the tattoo right after it was finished. Hard for me to believe this was 13 years ago! The subject matter was a combination of the dragon for my dad's many dragon tattoos and the fairy was styled after my favorite of my mother's tattoos. She has a similar fairy looking down at a snail on a mushroom. I still love how sweet of an image my tattoo artist came up with to bring the two images together. Speaking of him, all of my tattoos have been done by my dad's best buddy, Big Mike. I'm lucky to have someone who is basically a part of my family do all of my work.

Here are a few more of the process photos:

(That smile didn't last long, ha!)

Like many people with body art, all of my tattoos have some meaning. A few represent love and family like this one, and others a major turning point in my life that I wanted to mark. I haven't gotten one in 4 years, but my next will be something for my niece. She has definitely marked me in the best way possible!

I remember when I got this one having multiple people ask me if I was worried if this would look bad when I got older. Well, the way I figure is I'll either be old enough by then to keep my saggy bits covered or I won't care what anyone else thinks anyway. The colors fade a bit as time goes on, but the sentiment behind it only grows stronger....

Banners by @zord189, @woman-onthe-wing, @dksart and @bearone for @steemusa