Evergreen tree tattoo: The evergreen tree, no matter the circumstance, no matter the time of year, stays green. It is a reminder no matter the situations or circumstances to stay positive, stay optimistic, and true to themselves. They also like how it looked. They wanted a small one to test out their first tattoo to see how they felt about tattoos.

World map upside down tattoo: They studied geography in college and loved maps. The reason it is upside down: perspective. They stated, “You have the power to choose how you are going to look at every situation. You can choose your perspective.” This tattoo makes a lot of people uncomfortable, which they like. It is arbitrary; we are just floating on a ball in space. It’s about being comfortable about thinking about things in new ways, and open to new ideas.

Kanji tattoo: They got this tattoo 24 years ago. They don’t know what it means. They were with a group of people, and they had a friend with a tattoo gun. They are pretty sure it says Johnson, but they looked it up and can not find a symbol that matches it.

Memorial tattoo: Their first son passed away a day before their birthday. A friend of their’s owns a tattoo shop and offered them 2 free tattoos.

Faith tattoo: That is the second of free tattoos from their friend. This is to symbolize the faith that things can get better.

In God’s hands tattoo: This is where they want to be, when they get to be with their son again.

Forgiven tattoo: This was their first tattoo. They grew up in a Christian home, and were not supposed to get tattoos. The first one they got was forgiven. They thought it was fail safe.

Lion and wolf hand tattoos: They got this as a ying and yang or good and evil thing.

Hope and Love tattoos: These were the first visible tattoo they got. It cost them a few a jobs. They thought, “If you don’t want to hire me because I have hope and love on their knuckles, I don’t want to work for you.”

Left hand finger symbols: umbrella, anchor, cross,  diamond.
Right hand finger symbols: tear drop, key hole, lighting bolt, coffee cup.
These tattoos don’t mean much to them. They just needed space filled up.

Squid tattoo: This is a cover up of a tree tattoo. They got the tree tattoo at age 18.

Sinking ship tattoo: This is just a cool American traditional thing.

Diamond Jimi Hendrix tattoo: “When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.” They were just filling up room on their arm.

18 year old college tattoo: They were 18 years old and all of these things looked like great things to have as tattoos.

Piano tattoo: This is because they play piano.

Spider web tattoo: Because what else were they going to put on their elbow?

Ambigram music breath tattoo: This says music one way and breathe another. This was another cool design they saw.

Cardinal rose lighthouse tattoo: This was for their grandmother who passed away. They had bonded over her rose garden with lighthouses, cardinals and stuff like that.

Butterfly tattoo: They were 18 and wanted a tattoo. It was the most innocent thing they could think of.

Gemini kanji initials tattoo: The tattoo contains the Zodiac Gemini sign. The kanji is the Chinese symbol for love, both their daughter’s initials and a star for each one. The tattoo is to honor their children.

Lab paw print tattoo: This is their 14 1/2-year-old lab’s paw print. They had Leila since she was 3 months old. Leila is like their baby. Leila has been there through divorce, death and birth. They took a cast of Leila’s paw and drew the cast into the tattoo.

Rose tattoo: Honey Bee wanted a tattoo. They went in when they were 24. Honey Bee had a few margarita’s first and picked the rose.

Angel Wings tattoo: They are angel wings for Honey Bee’s memaw. They had a friend design the wings. In the middle of the wings there is a doily for their memaw.

Teddy bear tattoo: Honey Bee calls this their Toddy Bear because when they emailed back and forth, Toddy Bear used the teddy bear emoji. Honey Bee wanted it to look more like Toddy. The artist took a picture of Toddy wearing classes. The artist put the glasses on the emoji bear so that Toddy would always be close to Honey Bee’s heart. The tattoo is located near Honey Bee’s heart.