Capricorn/Aquarius tattoo: They were born a month and a half early. The tattoo looks kind of wavy like the double wave of an Aquarius symbol. It took them about 5 years before they settled on this tattoo.

Japanese perseverance tattoo: This is a cover up of a more cartoon-y version of the same tattoo. It has the Japanese symbol “Nin” for perseverance over a heart. Their interpretation is “to persevere with love.” They also see it as there are mountains in the picture, so they see it as to persevere to get to the heart. They see the bat as a symbol of perseverance. The bat is connected to the Tengu spirit. On the top is blue sky and clouds. They were going to have it connected to a full back blue dragon, but opted not to: their partner thought it would look like a serial killer, and they saw this as a battle not worth fighting.

MacBean clan crest tattoo: “Touch not the Cat Bot a Targe.” This is the clan MacBean crest. Their last name is MacBane. This refers to their motto: don’t mess with the cat without a shield.

Robot arm tattoo: They described this tattoo as either a robot arm or terminator arm. They stated it does not mean much. They got it because sometimes they feel like a robot, as they are not that emotional. They like how it looks; it’s not about the meaning.

They stated they got this tattoo in Russia. This is currently their only tattoo! They are planning on having more ink added to expand the tattoo further up their arm.

Celtic band with blue rose tattoo: The blue rose represents their father who passed away 2001 from non-Hodchkin’s lymphoma. His favorite color was blue and his favorite flower was roses. Both sides of their family are very Celtic.

Celtic sister knot tattoo: They and their sister got matching tattoos of the Celtic sister knot. They wanted to get a tattoo that represented family, because family is not going to change.

Wild at heart tattoo: This was their first tattoo. They were turning 30 and needed something that said something about them. They are wild at heart.

Hearts tattoo: This is their most recent tattoo. They got it to celebrate their niece turning 18. She was staying with them for a summer. She wanted a tattoo, and they agreed that they would get the same tattoo as their niece. They wanted the tattoo to be small, and hidden. They got 3 hearts behind their ear.

Cover-up tattoo: This tattoo originally contained both hearts and their ex’s name. However, they tried to have the ex’s name lasered off. They ended up with skin hyperpigmentation, which they would like to cover up eventually. Their current plan is to cover it with a lotus flower, or a butterfly.

Indian tribal tattoo: Their original plan was to get a patriotic tattoo. They and a group of their friends wanted identical tattoos because their son was deployed in the Navy. The group went to the tattoo shop, and they all agreed on Indian tribal tattoos. However, they don’t see this particular tattoo as patriotic. You can’t tell from the picture, but this tattoo is on their foot.

The Airborne Toxic Event tattoo: This is the album art from their favorite band, The Airborne Toxic Event‘s, first album. They are very connected to trees, and they studied psychology. To them, tree branches kind of look like synapses in the brain.

Lotus flower tattoo: They liked this image. After going through a tough time, this was their way of celebrating coming out of it.

The monkeys do not break me tattoo: This is a bad Google translation from Swahili. They were working at a lab that was doing work in Africa, trying to help impoverished people get health insurance. It was a dumb project, though the idea behind it was nice. Their boss thought it would be a good idea for the donors to text the recipients. They had some native Swahili speakers, and they put in some text Swahili. The Swahili was not translated correctly; this was the translated version. They took this saying on as a team mantra. The monkeys are life comes at you, and the garbage (the monkeys) won’t break you.

Lilac flower: They are from Rochester New York, famous for the lilac festival. All their friends got a lilac tattoo, though not the same one.

Shape of Water tattoo: They just call him the fishman, as he did not have a name in the movie, The Shape of Water. There was a connection to this movie. They saw The Shape of Water about four times in the theater. They liked the theme of loving people who are different from you.

Triangle and flowers tattoo: They got this tattoo with two of their friends in Denver, CO. They used to live there. They all wanted to get something that would commemorate their time together. It would also be unique for each person, as they are very different people. The triangle is for the three of them. They then each filled the triangle with what ever they wanted. One person went very herbal, and had rosemary and thyme. With their tattoo the flowers are not special because of the flower. The flowers are special because of the progression of the flowers. The flowers start with the bud and are in the progression of blooming. It is supposed to be a reminder to keep growing.

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.