I have two tattoos that are memorial tattoos. The first one I got on my brothers 10th aniversary of his death back in 2005. The tattoo is on my left wrist and its a claggdah. I have the heart facing towards me to show that my brother has my heart. It also had his birth year 1980 initials TSD and death year 1995. The second one is on my chest its an anatomical heart with wings showing that my brothers heart is free. I lost my brother to a car accident that he, my sister, my mother and I were all involved in. He was ejected from the car and was killed instantly. The cop told my father when he arrived to the scene he didn’t think anyone would be alive after what he saw. Luckily 3 of us did survive, but unfortunatly we lost my brother. He was 14 and the oldest of the children. He was a freshman in high school and a great artist. He would draw flash art all of the time and he constantly told me he was going to be a tattoo artist and a drumer for a famous touring band. My brother would have accomplished these goals if his life wasn’t taken from him. All the tattoos that I will be getting on my body are going to be for him and my family. I hold them all so close to my heart. My family is what keeps me alive.
Many people choose their tattoos from the wall…many have their tattoo drawn for them while waiting in the shop, but I was lucky enough to have mine drawn by my dad. My dad past away last year in July and when my mom found this picture I decided to have it tattooed. I didn’t want any color added to it. I wanted it exactly how it was and the artist did exactly that even down to my dads name as it shows in the drawing. I couldn’t think of any other way to remember my dad since my dad was also tattooed I think he would be happy and like it. I placed it over my right shoulder because my dad had a song for me it’s called “Look over your shoulder you’ll find me”. It’s an old school R&B song there for he will forever be right besides me. I also named my son after my dad (well his middle name anyway) since my son was born a month and a half after my dad past. The words Mi Querida mean my love and my dad loved buying me and my mom roses. So to my dad I love and miss you, may you rest in peace, love your Lil Queen.
This tattoo is a memorial tattoo I got for my mother. She passed away on april 14 of this year. On the day of her visitation, I was sitting outside, having a cigarette and listening to johnny cash, without which I don’t think I could have made it through all of that week. I’m by no stretch of the imagination a religious person, but at that moment I asked God for some sort of sign that my Mom was where she needed to be. Then out of nowhere, this cardinal comes swooping up on the porch and landed on a light. It sat there for a moment, looking at me. Then it chirped and flew away. And all I could think to say was thank you. So, that weekend I called Mark of Cain tattoos in Champaign, IL, and set up an appointment for the following Monday and had the cardinal done.
My nephew, Jake Daeda, was one of those kids that all the other kids wanted to be like. He was smart, fun, handsome, sportsman, witty and just all all around good kid. We had planned to meet at Quaker Steak and Lube on this Saturday afternoon for wings (wings was his favorite meal) so I could finally meet his new Girlfriend, Abbey. Well, the dinner never happened and he went to a party instead. He was running late for curfew and was speeding through Monticello and went off the road. Jake was killed… at the age of 16 I had lost my nephew, my friend, my son… my all. I went into a very quick and very steady downward spiral with drugs and alcohol (a spiral I had been on many times before). I woke up one day and realized that this was not helping the situation, so I went and got his name tattooed on my ribcage (most painful one yet) as a constant reminder that he is in my heart and forever will be. I miss you Jakey, and love you more than words can ever express!
This is one of my most memorable tattoos. It is in memory of my dad who passed on at an early age. He was very close to me miss him dearly. He will always be in my heart and always with me deep in my skin. He has been gone for 8 yrs now but his memories live on forever.
This tattoo is one big memorial. On May 18th, 2006, my best friend, AJ, tragically passed away. He was only 23 years old. Its strange because I don’t remember the exact moment I met him three years ago, but he’s the kind of person you never forget and feel like you’ve always known.
AJ was the poster child for life, why you should never give up on it, and how to live it to its fullest. We met at SUNY Purchase College, he was a film student. He was also a DJ, who always knew what to play and when to play it. He was big on funk and music like Stevie Wonder and Prince. I was always a dork growing up, even at college, but once he started DJ-ing my dorm parties, everyone knew where G-7-2 The Olde was and that AJ was the house DJ. We joked that I was going to be his secretary because everyone started booking him for their parties. He made every weekend a lasting memory. Wherever he went, everyone got along, everyone respected each other. His wisdom seemed to reach everyone through his presence.
He never had a bad thing to say about anyone. I met him through an ex-boyfriend, and even after a violent end to that relationship, he never picked sides, he never said a negative thing. He would always be my best friend, always be my big-little brother (he was 6 foot something and a year younger than me, I’m barely 5 feet tall!). The worst thing he ever said about anyone when I would be venting my little heart out was, “Damn, that’s messed up.” . He was so enthusiastic about life and that enthusiam showed in all his films, all his DJ-ing, and his amazing breakdancing skills. He was an eternal optimist yet all his optimisms were truths. His motto was, “Everything is going to be OK. No matter how bad things are, they will ALWAYS get better.” It was simple, but it was true. He had a thousand friends, he made them everywhere he went. There isn’t a person out there who could say one bad thing about him. He was wise beyond his years and he was blast to be around.
I went through a lot in the last four years. I survived a sexual attack, I was diagnosed Type 1 diabetic, and I went through 2 abusive relationships before I found my soulmate. I knew AJ through almost all of that. The last abusive relationship I was in had really isolated me from all of my friends and family. But AJ was the kind of friend you couldn’t be isolated from. He always knew when something had gone down, and that I was alone in my on campus apartment, ready to check out of this life. He would come bursting through the front door like Kramer from Sienfeld (oh yea, AJ was quite the comedian!) and then knock gently on my bedroom door. He’ d listen to me blubber for an hour, give me hugs, tell me jokes, and bum ciggarettes from me. We’d chain smoke and have a few drinks while watching the sci-fi channel and talk about how we were going to make our own Paranormal Investigation team. He’d stay with me, until one of us passed out. Then he’d eventually go back to his room to finish editing his film series, Project 27. He never realized how many nights he saved me from doing the unspeakable.
He managed all that for months while maintaing his own relationship and his projects.
Well in February of 2006 my fiance, Eugene, came back to SUNY Purchase and in a sense rescued me. Once AJ saw that I was safe and being cared for and loved by Eugene, he spent that extra time with his own love. By the beginning of May his girlfriend and my good friend, Erin, told me they were talking about getting married. She was to go visit his mother, step father and half sister in England over the summer. AJ hadn’t seen them in years.
AJ had been filming a series called Prject 27, there were about 5 episodes. AJ was the master at filming amazing things with no budget. Since I couldn’t act I helped behind the scenes, as the Director’s Assistant and first aid lady. I kept him organized haha. He did all of his own stunts. He took martial arts lessons, went to shooting ranges so he could shoot the props realistically on film, and learned the skills he needed to do the stunts properly and safely. He was in amazing shape despite his asthma. My father is a doctor and we get samples of inhalers for me all the time, and knowing AJ had no money, I used to sneak him extra inhalers and decongestants when he needed them. He was still in amazing health.
I held my very last blow-out party two nights before graduation, so all my underclassmen friends could make it before the school kicked them out for the summer. AJ dj-ed. Everyone had a great time, everyone said their goodbyes to the graduating students. Everything was fine. The next morning AJ came to pick up his equipment to pack up and take home. I gave him a hug, one last hug, and said I’d call him and see him later. Not to forget about coming to my summer house at the beach.
I wish I hugged him harder. Just a second longer.
AJ died that night while doing a stunt alone. He never did stunts alone before but this one was supposed to be a quick easy one. He had the camera on the table, the script on the floor, he tied the same safety knot he’s tied a hundred times before. But he fell the wrong way, and the safety knot on the noose didn’t give.
He was my best friend, and always will be. The ink on my arm is a tribute to his work and a pheonix, because he will be reborn. Somehow, somewhere. There was no stopping that boy, and death is merely a phase. The sun pictured can be either rising or setting, like on the death card in a tarot deck- it also means rebirth. The moon cycles represent life cycles. And the shooting star is- well, AJ. AJ is a star. For his birthday, two months after his passing, I had a star named after him. It sits on Orion’s Belt, watching over us, inspiring us.
Losing your brother (blood or not, doesn’t matter), is something that changes you forever.
