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When I got my first tattoo...I was not ready for it. I was not ready for the pain, I was not ready for the looks that I would get, and I was not ready for that power-rush it would give me. The pain and the cost made me feel like a badass, like one of the elite. The message behind my first tattoo made me finally feel like something physical was sacrificed for all the struggles I went through for years...all that time leading up to that singular moment when the needles hit my skin.

I was foolish.

However...it was a great tattoo, a beautiful tattoo. It was one that was thought-out, and it made sense (to me) and had that outward meaning that would make sense to others as well. It was probably the most thought-out tattoo on my body, and that alone makes it special.

Because there are worse tattoos...
There is the tattoo I got to show off to my former best friend how cool and tough I was. There was the tattoo I got for my ex when she went to basic. There was the tattoo I got because of a vision I had during a meditation, and the tattoo I was forced to get because my ex was scaring me.

There are more meaningful tattoos like the one I got marking a special chapter in my life...my final souvenir from Germany. And now I have another spontaneous tattoo that has meaning as well...the fire of adventure still being lit within me, Paganism, candle magick, The Morrigan, Goddess figure...it's a bird with a candle-head...and though random it is special, and probably more thought-out than most of what covers my body.

But it's funny. I have these tattoos...and some look downright horrid. Garage-tattoos that aren't worth $10 let alone the $60 I spent on them. Ink that never stayed, scars I will never get rid of. Inked mistakes I can't afford to erase (right now).
But despite the fact that some of these tattoos hold idiotic moments on my skin...even if they now get me laughed at by most tattoo artists I have asked for quotes on how to cover them up. Despite all this...I can't say I totally regret them.

I'm a firm believer that a tattoo tells a story...that each piece of art (spontaneous or no) holds some sort of moment attached to them. Some mood or memory even if the image doesn't paint a clear picture.

So even if some of these stories on my skin will one day be covered up...I think the process of turning something ugly or plain into something beautiful...I think such a metamorphosis will make the new memories all the more sweeter to me.

(random thought)