Shortly after my son was born, I started the brainstorming process of a tattoo dedicated to him. I had a Kokopelli symbol on my right wrist from years ago. Since it stands for fertility/self growth, and the spirit of music, I figured I’d grow off of that. My son was born under the sign of Pisces on a February day. Since he is a water sign, I wanted to incorporate water/fish. I’ve been obsessed with mermaids since I was a little girl, so I thought a mermaid tail in the shape of a “J” (his name is Jasper), would signify both his name and his symbol. My favorite color is purple and my favorite gemstone is amethyst, so I was excited he was a February baby. When I decided to put this water theme on my arm, I thought about putting it inside a purple antique style hand mirror. So it is almost like looking inside the hand mirror, attached to me, is my son. So no matter what, he’s there with me every day. Stephen von Staats — who is now a tattoo artist in San Francisco — gave me this beautiful forever gift at Living Arts Studio in Northampton.
Staff Edition: Show Us Your Tattoos, Jennifer Levesque and Kristin Palpini
