My Tattoo Tour

Ever knew I have 6 hidden tattoos? Ever want to know the meaning behind them? All my tattoos have deep meanings. Let's start from the beginning. I was 18 and at the Eating Disorder Clinic, and my roommate couldn't make the appointment, so an opportunity arose and I took it.  I already knew what I was going to get since I just spent the last 5 years at the Stratford Shakespeare School. My last character I played was Laertes from Hamlet, and he is given some fine advice by his father. "To thine own self be true," something that inspired me and commemorated my time in school. A good reminder that no matter where in the world, one to be true to oneself.

Something I had forgotten over the years. My second tattoo is a mix of a dedication to my grandma and an Alice In Wonderland tattoo. I have the white roses from Wonderland because you can "paint them any colour," and I believe that is a beautiful illusion, and the pearls wrapped around the roses are for my grandma, as she looked beautiful in them. This is my biggest piece.

My third tattoo is a bit of play on words and is dedicated to my sister. She is the Harry Potter obsessed in the family, so of course I have the Deathly Hallows tattoo for her, but here is where it becomes kinda cool. I also have a bee in the same space to represent what people called me in my childhood, 'Bee'. When we were younger, we used to call my sister HB for Hannah banana or Hannah and Bronwyn. If you put the first two letters of the tattoos together, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and A Bee for me, you get HB.A tattoo dedicated to the one who means the most my sister.

My third tattoo is to make my scars beautiful. A story that never stopped. The quote is also from Shakespeare and from my all-time show, Hamlet, and it says "To be or not the be" to die or to live. I chose to live. Enough said.

My fourth and fifth tattoos were done at the same time, but with two completely separate meanings. I put 1997 in gothic style on the back of my ear, but for a special reason. I truly believe people with mental health issues as severe as my bipolar episodes should all be wearing a medical bracelet that says our basic information in case we get into a situation where we don't even remember our names or where we came from. The bracelets would give so much helpful infomation. But since that's not a thing, at least I got my birthday tattooed, so people know how old I am, at least.

My fifth tattoo is dedicated to my 6.5 years in recovery. A saying that got me through on a daily basis. "One day at a time" Five simple words. ODAAT for short. I'm so proud of myself for coming this far and sticking to the program that I got a tattoo to prove to myself that all the hard work pays off. My sixth and not final tattoo is a cover-up of the ODAAT tattoo.

A year later, I just wasn't feeling the font anymore, not the meaning by any means, so I got it covered with a Shakespearean skull on top of all his plays. This tattoo is not finished as I  sat there for four and a half hours, and my ankle bone was shaking by the end of it. Soon we will have it complete. My goal is to get more Shakespeare tattoos and more family tree tattoos are they are both so important and mean the world to me.