ten year tattoo

Well some of you know that on the day I turned 20 I got my first tattoo that represented to me where I was in life at that age. In short it has 3 rings for the three generations of my family, black and white for the two cultures of my country and the circle a symbol of sun and water and eternity and so on all to me representing energy and life and youth etc...

so this year I turned 30 and as I had a tiny plan to place symbols up my spine every decade to remind me of where I have been I chose a butterfly. The butterfly I chose is one from the tropical north of Australia called the Ulysses I thought as Ulysses took ten years to travel home after the fall of troy the ten year thing was kind of a nice parallel to the time I was marking and the greek name/aussie origin thing a nice way to symbolise my time in Melbourne. I have always loved butterflies and some of my fondest memories are of catching them in Pauanui as a kid at easter time(I always released them after a look). Anyway both have loads more meaning to me but this give you an idea.

Thanks to the amazing artist Hamish McLauchlan at Two Hands in Newton and my sis for the moral support as pain is not something I willingly put my self through often.

Oh and ps you are lucky I am sharing this as I don't normally discuss my tattoos as they are very personal to me but thought I would make an exception