Do you have a tattoo? Here, 12 readers tell the stories behind theirs…
“I am madly in love with my life partner: my dog, Robin. She is my first soulmate and north star. When I adopted her in 2015, I wanted to commemorate the relationship. So, I took a picture of the geometric white patch on her chest, and the tattoo artist traced the outline. Everyone tries to guess what state it is!” — Emma (both photos, above)
“My artist friend Minka gave me a ‘fancy since 1979’ tattoo at my 40th birthday party. It was her gift, and whoa was it an amazing one. And the wine glasses idea I stole from my friend Sam. It’s just fun. The more tattoos I have, the sillier they get. ” — Kavi
“My sister and I have matching Little Dipper (her, left) and Big Dipper (me) tattoos. Elyse is seven years younger than me, and growing up we often found ourselves living out mother/child dynamics. As adults, our ages have started to feel closer, but we’ve also been able to cherish our age gap as part of our bond rather than in spite of it. I think our tattoos honor both, by celebrating being big and being little, but also being friends.” — Carmen
“I got this tattoo after my separation. Tattoos can be healing.” — Nicole
“I got this tattoo when we decided we were done having children. I had always wanted three kids, and it took a while to realize that our family was complete with two. I got this tattoo to mark that rite of passage. It was sad but felt good to process. I got two chickadees with aspen leaves. Chickadees are cheerful resourceful little birds, and that’s also my nickname for my kids.” — Merridy
“As part of the Berbère culture in Morocco, women have their forehead tattooed and sometimes hands, cheeks, chin, etc. I got this a few years ago when I moved to Morocco and felt connected again with my family and culture.” — Habiba
“I got this tattoo on my birthday, as a gift to myself after my first miscarriage.” — Ruby
“When one of my two friends had to move far away, we got similar tattoos to mark the end of an era and the start of a new one.” — Clear
“My tattoo means ‘breathe’ in Ogham, a primitive Irish alphabet. I have anxiety like the rest of us, so here we are!” — Lindsay
“I lost both my brother and sister last year. My brother was covered in tattoos and always paraded our names on his body as a badge of honor. I felt it only fitting that I did the same.” — Lynn, Bam and Jackie’s little sister
“These are stick-and-poke tattoos that I drew and tattooed onto my own legs. All of these were done during my newborn’s nap time!” — Theresa
“As a medical student, I got this tattoo as a promise to myself: I’m going to make it through medical school, and I’m going to provide abortions as a part of full-spectrum family medicine. That feels more important now than ever. I know it’s uncool how earnest this tattoo is, but I’m the first doctor in my powerful, low-income, Little Shell Chippewa of Montana family of badass women. I’m so proud to be a future physician for the communities I care about. The talented tattoo artist is Virginia Elwood; she donated the entire cost to Planned Parenthood.” — Jenny
P.S. More reader comments, and 12 readers share their cozy corners.