Shortly after I turned 18, I got a tattoo. I had wanted one since I was about 15, so I had a few ideas about what to permanently decorate my body with. The one that I loved the most I created after a guided imagery exercise with Jaime's mom, Tammy. One of the gifts I had visualized receiving was a white dove, which represented purity. I knew I wanted some type of plant involved, but I wasn't sure what. My Aunt Heidi visited shortly after the dove idea and that's when I noticed that she had an ivy band tattooed around her ankle. I really liked the way it looked, but there was no meaning behind it for me. When my Grandpa Don passed away when I was 17, I got my meaning. Ivy was placed on his coffin by some of the gentlemen in the Elk's Club to symbolize brotherhood. I kind of made the brotherhood morph into "family". Now I had my design that totally represented who I was at the time. (A few years later the tattoo also took on the meaning of Purity and Poison, my own version of Yin and Yang: The Balance of Life).
My Grandpa Charlie passed away a few months after I had gotten my ink and my family and I were back in Iowa for the funeral. I remember when my Aunt Jacquie saw it, she told me, "When you turn 30 you're going to wonder 'Why in the world did I do that?'" I recall thinking, Even if I regret getting it, I'll always remember what it meant to me at the time and how I was young and impulsive and didn't care who I would be in 15 years...Her words have stuck with me ever since. Each birthday that has passed I have kind of evaluated if I still liked my tattoo....the answer is yes, it still represents me and what I believe. It still represents that young and hopeful girl. (Even if it is now considered a 'tramp stamp'!!)
