I’m posting this mainly because now I look back on this and realize that it’s actually a great story. When I was about ten years old, I started drawing a sharpie heart on my wrist. I kept doing this for five years straight, then when I visited Australia with my family at age 15, I decided that I really wanted to get it tattooed. It was April 2nd. My family is strongly against permanent body art, so what i did was “go on a hike in the city.” I walked an hour to the best rated tattoo parlor in Melbourne, Australia and then put on a huge huge show about how much I wanted it and how I was 18 years old. I obviously didn’t have an ID because I was FIFTEEN, but somehow I convinced the tattoo artist that I was of age. Keep in mind, this is a highly reputable place. Now I do realize that it could have gotten the parlor into trouble, and I do regret that part, but I was smart/stupid enough to cover my tracks really really well. To this day I wish I hadn’t lied about my age, since that’s obviously a horrible thing to do because it could get the parlor in trouble. I paid him the 150$ Australian cash, then had him tattoo me. It hurt a good amount, but was over in fifteen minutes. I loved it right away. He gave me the aftercare and wrapped it up, then I got coffee and slowly walked back home. I had decided that for the first month of having the tattoo that I would only tell one person about it, since I was doing it for myself alone, and not attention. So there I was, calling my best friend. I told her about my tattoo, and sent her pictures of me getting it done. Here’s the first part that’s hilarious- she immediately started laughing and said “nice try. Did you honestly think If believe you??” I was confused because I never lie to her and it was a weird reaction considering her personality, and the trust between us. I knew hat she was highly against having a tattoo underage, but not believing me was straight up weird. I told her that I wasn’t lying. Then she said this- “If you are going to pull an april fools prank on me, at least make it good.” Even though it was April 2nd in Australia, thanks to time change it was still April Fools in the US. Meaning there was no way that she’d believe me. The next day she said nothing about it. My parents had no idea about the tattoo until I turned 18. Every single year on April Fools I would tell my best friend about the tattoo, but until I turned 20 she never believed me. My parents saw the tattoo on my wrist every single day, but continuously just assumed it was sharpie. Fast forward fifteen years later and I still love the tattoo with everything in me. It means so so much and I have no regrets about having it done.

Oh I almost forgot- here’s the meaning behind it:

For me the people I love are incredibly important in my life. This tattoo symbolizes the people who I care about the most. Over the years I have been able to look back on everybody who I’ve loved, and most importantly, look back on the fact that I should always love myself first. The second reason for the tattoo placement as a heart is tat when I press my other thumb to it, I can feel my pulse. Whenever I’ve felt insecure or depressed, I would just sit down, once my thumb to my pulse, and It would remind me of who I am, who I’ve loved, and the fact that I am alive and should enjoy every single moment ❤️