55

Since today is my father’s birthday (he would’ve been 55) I wasn’t sure what I should specifically talk about. My mom suggested I talk about one of the biggest ways I have chosen to honor and remember my father, tattoos. A lot of people in my family don’t approve of tattoos for many reasons. A big part is in the Jewish religion you cannot be buried in a Jewish cemetery if you’ve “tarnished” your body. You’re supposed to go to the grave the way you were born, i.e no tattoos, piercings, etc. So considering I have 8 piercings and 5 tattoos, I think I’ll just be buried with my dog. Any who, there’s a plethora of other reasons people are against them too, infections, less of a chance of getting a job, being ugly. I’m not here to convince you to change your opinion, but I’m here to justify my decision to get tattoos. After my dad passed away I immediately decided on a tattoo. It would have his birthday 8.15.62 and the day he passed 7.1.10. underneath. My mom was well aware of this from the second I wanted it, and on my 18th birthday I had it tattooed below my neck. It’s very small and usually hidden, and I love it. It was small and hidden though, like the conversations about my dad. I realized as time passed that I thought tattoos were a beautiful way to mark myself with reminders of people I love. For my mother’s birthday last April I got an Iris, the flower for inspiration and a peonies the flower for the month of April on my ankle. In the summer I got the Scorpio sign for my sister (even though we’re twins so I guess it’s for both of us?) this school year my extremely talented friend gave me a rosemary bouquet on the inside of my right arm. Rosemary is the flower of remembrance. There are three stems for my sister, my mom, and me and each stem has 12 bristles for the 12 years I had with my dad. My most recent tattoo, (which I just decided while writing this that’ll I’ll get finished today in Portland) is the single cover for Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd. After my dad died we had a celebration in his honor, and a group of his friends preformed Wish You Were Here. Since that day, 7 years ago, I haven’t been able to listen to the song. It’s on my iTunes and every time it comes on shuffle I try to listen and I can only get about 15 seconds in. The song means a huge deal to me and the association it has with my dad, so putting the art on my body is my way of having the song with me. My mom is always reluctant when I tell her I got another tattoo. Her fears come from a place of love and I do understand that, but tattoos are a way I have found, to always have my family with me. When I showed my mom my most recent tattoo, she was extremely disappointed by it. I was going to keep it a secret until I got it finished, but felt to guilty and showed her the next day. She didn’t believe that it was the album cover saying that, “it has no association with Pink Floyd and she “has never seen that photo in her life.” And then asking what the photo even was, and if the two men shaking hands were my dad and…..? Hearing this was very hard. All my tattoos are really thought out and I could never imagine putting something permanently on my body without thoroughly researching and deciding on them. After a few silent moments of research she admitted in fact it WAS the album, and we found the true meaning of the album cover. It’s two men shaking hands (one on fire) to represent telling lies and getting burned, which I also really liked. Tattoos are a fluid conversation starter, forcing people to listen to me talk about my dad. I’ve become obsessed with them because people can’t escape the conversation. The tattoos lure people in and allow me to give them a part of me I always hid. The tattoos are all in places I can cover up, because I respect that my mom and family sometimes just don’t want to see them, and want to believe the only way I can get a change is if I don’t have them. But my mom has been very understanding of them and I want everyone else to understand them too. I don’t think I’ll get anymore tattoos, but if I need to, I’m going to. Scroll down for photos of my tattoos, happy birthday dad, I wish you were here. (pic of finished tattoo coming soon!!)