Erin, Illinois

My dad passed away last year suddenly. My sister and I were devastated and decided to do tribute tattoos for him on our right wrists. My original idea was to copy a poster he had made in the garage in his handwriting. It was a Chevy Symbol with the Words 1 HOT VET. He restored Corvettes as a hobby and I came up with the specialized plate for the 1962 (he also restored a 1958) which was 1HTVET. However, after thinking about it, I wasn’t really crazy about having to explain why my wrist says “1 Hot Vet” on it. So, luckily, my sister was going to do a poppy with his signature as the stem. I fell in love with her idea. My dad  served in the Air Force during Vietnam, and at the time of his death was the Commander of the VFW Post in Bloomingdale, IL. Being a Veteran was very important to him.  Poppies are a symbol of remembering our Veterans. My Dad is obviously my favorite Veteran. Finding his signature for the stem was not as easy as one might think, but we got it. In the end my sister also changed her mind and went with just his signature. This is by far the tattoo that gets the most compliments.

Stacy, Minnesota

My two sisters and I have this tattoo on our wrists. My oldest daughter designed it for us. Three music clefs: the treble clef is up on mine because it looks like an S for Stacy; the bass clef is up on my sister Jen’s because it kind of looks like a J; and the alto clef is up on my sister Becky’s because it looks like a B. We all took piano lessons as kids and were in band all through high school, so music was in our lives.

Susan, Virginia

When my daughter turned 18 she told me she wanted a tattoo. I had been thinking about it for many years and I told her that if she still wanted one when she had waited a year we would go in and get them together. Not quite a year later, and after lots of discussions about picking something meaningful, we went in together. We both got honu (sea turtles) in the same spot. She picked a highly detailed traditional Polynesian design. I made mine a bit more personal adding my children’s initials and Ohana to the design.

Phoebe, Wisconsin

I got this when I was 18, a few months after I moved away for college. It’s my grandma’s handwriting off of the very first letter she wrote me. I found it after she died when I was going through a box of letters and cards my parents kept for me. She was my favorite, and the most strong-willed, hard working, sassy and kind person I’ve ever met. She’s the person I aspire to be like.

Nancy, California

A great artist covered up a really ugly iris that looked like a bruise on my leg. Now I have this lovely orchid.

Ann, Indiana

I have a few tattoos but the one that means the most is my niece’s name that I have on my shoulder. She died in utero during the third trimester of my sister’s first pregnancy. Since she was below a certain weight, we didn’t have a death certificate. We buried her on my sister’s ranch in Kansas. I planned the small memorial and my brother-in-law built her casket. It was life-changing, but I’m so glad for this little daily reminder.