I was scrolling through the communities and came across the community "Tattoo World". I didn't even know it existed. It's nice to see the messages about "The story behind" the Tattoo.
So here I will share mine for anyone who finds it interesting enough :)
I have a number of tattoos that, for me, all have a meaning. Although my first tattoo didn't have a meaning right away, but now after years, it suddenly does :).
I was always fascinated by tattoos, I often thought they were beautiful but never had the intention of getting one myself. Until my oldest brother got one. I went with him to the tattoo artist when he had it done. Then I was convinced, I'm getting one too. However, I had no idea what I wanted at the time, tribal tattoos were very hip in the Netherlands, but they all looked the same. Until Max Cavalera (former frontman of Sepultura) formed a new band, Soulfly. They had an insanely powerful, but simple, logo that was also tribal. I liked it so much that I had it put on the middle of my back. That was about 25 years ago now (where does the time go).
Not long after that, my wife (then girlfriend) and I were in Paris. There was a Chinese lady on the street who, for a fee, could calibrate your name very nicely. We had that done for both of our names. When we were back in the Netherlands for a while, I was looking at those paintings, with our names, and I went to the tattoo artist with them. I then had the names put on my back as well. I thought it was special because she was the woman I wanted to grow old with. (and safe, because it was Chinese I could always say that it was a Chinese dish, if things went wrong between us:) ).
Afterwards we realized that we had never actually checked whether the Chinese lady had actually written down our names. She could have made something completely different out of it. But anyway, they were there and there was nothing I could do about it.
Until one time we were visiting my parents-in-law. An acquaintance of theirs who is married to a Chinese woman was also visiting. My mother-in-law popped out "Shi (that's her name) would you like to look at the back of my son-in-law, can you translate what it says?" And of course she wanted to. I was quite nervous, who knows she might say "Sorry but it says "Whoever reads this is crazy" hahaha.... But luckily her reaction suggested otherwise. She said, literally "You must love her very much to put this on your back". And after that, your names immortalized. So I was reassured.
In 2004 our oldest son was born. And before my wife had even recovered from the birth I had his name inked in Chinese on my back. Completely in line with our names. Only this one was a bit bigger than our names, on the lower part of my back. I will never forget the reaction of my wife and mother-in-law. They were both sitting on the bed, I lifted up my t-shirt and the first thing they both said was "WTF did you do??" hahahaha great.
Then in 2006 our youngest was born. And of course his name had to be there too, I just abandoned the Chinese plan. It became too many Chinese characters. I then decided to have the names of both sons put in old English letters. So that's what I did.
(sorry, didn't have a other one in my collection, at least it's wel protected against sunburn lol)
So the tattoos on my back are all special for me. Only one was slightly mutilated by an operation, the skin is tight because of the scar. But anyway, I have it for myself and not for someone else :)
Earlier in this post I indicated that my first tattoo (the Soulfly logo) had no special meaning at the time of getting it, only that I thought it was a very beautiful logo. That has changed now, over time, and that has everything to do with my youngest son.
For those who have been following me for a while, know that I go out a lot with my children, making beautiful memories. Especially with the youngest I visit a lot of concerts together, we generally like the same music. Ever since he was young he has always said that he also wanted to get the Soulfly tattoo, because he also thinks it is great music but also because I have it on my back. Although I have tattoos myself, we have always said that they are only allowed to do that when they are 18 and can decide for themselves. So, honestly, 4 days after he turned 18 he had an appointment with a good tattoo artist and got his first tattoo there (just like his father). And also the Soulfly logo (just like his father) how cool is that? :) I have to admit that his version is prettier than mine, also over the years of course, but his tattoo has nice lines and shadows. Very cool done...
isn't it a awesome tattoo?
My son is also really the sweetest :) Soulfly came to the Netherlands for concerts last summer. That was in the middle of our vacation, so we were actually too far away to go, too bad. But it turned out that they were giving an extra concert in Bergen op Zoom. So my son first called my brother, if he wanted to go with me to the concert and if he had time. My brother was free and could come along. Then my son called me, "Dad, I have a present for your birthday, you are going to Soulfly with Arno (my brother). I thought it was great, but when he told me where it was I had to laugh. Bergen op Zoom is a 2.5 hour drive from us. But of course we went and we had a great evening.
My son also went to the concert during our vacation and then he sent me a picture in the evening, where he is together with the bass player of Soulfly, just to make his father jealous :)