I’m (Going To Be) A Mom With Tattoo’s – Amy From Wifery 101

Welcome back to another installment in our new series – I’m A Mom With Tattoos.  In case you have missed the last couple, don’t forget to check them out here.

Before we get settled and ready to see some more gorgeous tattoos, I want to just take a quick moment to thank you all for the comments, emails and whatsapps in response to my post yesterday.  I can’t express how comforting it is to have your support and prayers and advice on how to get through this difficult phase of my life.  Seriously – it means far more than I can express in words.  You are all fantastic human beings!

OK, enough sappy stuff 😉

Today we meet Amy.  Granted she may not yet be a Mom, but she is getting married in a few weeks and we all know what can happen on the honeymoon!

Your name and blog deets:  Amy Francis – I blog at Wifery101 but it’s not always updated as often as I’d like. Although there is a funny story of how I blew up our microwave with gemsquash on the blog 🙂

Your age:  23

Your Occupation:  Freelance copywriter working for myself and loving it!

A Mom’s favourite thing to do is talk about their children – tell us about your family:  I’m engaged to 25 year old Duane Brown, getting married in a few months, so I’m super excited to be starting my own little family soon! I’m an only child to two loving parents with a set of batty grandparents living on our property. Although I’m not a mom yet, I will be one day and am excited for that time in my life 🙂

If you work, tell us a bit more about your working environment – are you regularly in contact with new “clients/public”.  I studying copywriting at the AAA School of Advertising and worked for 10 months in an ad agency so my industry is very creative and luckily tattoos are pretty much the norm. At college there were plenty of students with full sleeves, chest tattoos and all sorts of creative things so it’s not that frowned upon in my industry. As a freelancer it can be difficult depending on your clients. If you take on a very corporate client you do stand the chance that they’re going to look you up and down, but I always think that as long as I’m producing the work you’re looking for, what difference does it make what I look like? Most of my clients though are very chilled and no one has had an issue with my tattoos yet 🙂

Tell us a bit about your tattoo’s, what they are, why you have them, where they are located

I have four tattoos:

A dove between my shoulder blades that my parents got as well as a symbol of them letting me fly from the nest

“Just Breathe” on my left wrist.  This tattoo is a reminder to take life day by day and not get caught up in the whirlwind.

“Love Faith Hope Believe” in Tibetan Sanskrit down my ribs on my right and is what I strive to live my life around each day, it’s not always easy but at least I have the reminder.

“…and I love you” on my left foot which forms part of Isaiah 43:4 and serves as a reminder of God’s constant love for me.

Age of first tattoo:  I was 18 when my parents and I got our dove tattoos.

Which tattoo is your favourite and why?  My favourite tattoo is the one on my foot. I went through a tough time in recent years and I forgot how much God loves me and had this tattooed as a reminder. The whole of Isaiah 43 is one of my favourite passages and the “…and I love you” part just sums it up so perfectly. It speaks about how God redeemed us and summoned us by name for we are precious and honoured in His sight….and He loves us. So amazing! Blows me away every time!

Do you plan on getting more?  I am definitely planning on getting more! I would like a cross on my hand or right wrist, haven’t decided yet and Duane and I are getting our names on our ring fingers once we’re married. I also want to get a star for each kid I have one day. Each tattoo has to mean something to me so anything else I want has to be carefully thought through.

How do your family and friends feel about your tattoo(s)?  My parents have tattoos themselves and actually paid for my first tattoo. Their reasoning was that they would rather pay for it themselves and have me do it in front of them than behind their backs. And it would be hypocritical for them to say no to tattoos for me anyway. Now that I don’t need their permission any more, they just hope I don’t go ‘overboard’ but that’s relative to each person.

Duane has a tattoo as well (he has a part of Jeremiah 29:11 on his arm) and doesn’t have an issue with me and tattoos. He just wants to be taken into consideration and says that he’s marrying me and has to look at and appreciate my body for the rest of my life so he would prefer that I don’t go too far either. But he’s happy with tattoos.

My grandparents are the ones that have the issue though. They’re super traditional and even hate the fact that I have my ears pierced. My gran is a bit batty but takes her faith as a Christian very seriously and prays every day for my tattoos to disappear overnight. A bit dramatic, yes, but I know that it upsets her. She doesn’t judge me or look at me any differently though, which makes me happy. I love her to absolute bits and respect her dislike of them so just choose not to show them off in front of her. She just chooses to look away and I don’t go and tell her that I’ve gotten a new one or whatever. Otherwise everyone’s pretty accepting.

What is the general reaction that “the Public” have towards your tattoo’s?  Have you run into any negativity or adversity because of them?  The only tattoos of mine that are hugely visible is the one on my foot and sometimes my wrist. But I do get some funny facial expressions to the one on my foot. Most people don’t understand the context of the “…and I love you” so they usually think it’s some kind of confession of my undying love for Duane ha ha! People are also quick to say “I didn’t know you had a tattoo????” as if I don’t look hard core enough or emo enough or whatever. I think it’s funny that some people are so ignorant and tend to make statements before they think, but most of us do that anyway so I just brush it off.

I’ve never had adversity because of it but I’ve had people think that it makes me a sinner because of being a Christian and I’ve had a lot of questions asking “If you’re a Christian how can you have a tattoo??” which is always difficult to answer because they’ve usually made up their assumption already. I usually just reply with God knows my heart and each tattoo has a meaning. There are none that were for fun or because it was cute at the time. Which is what I would want my kids to know. That I would have no issue with them getting tattoos one day but they have to live with it for the rest of their lives so if it’s cute today, is it going to be cute in 10, 20, 30 years time? It will be interesting to see how people react to my cross on my hand though which will be HIGHLY visible 🙂

Any advice for those interested in getting tattooed?  Do your research!!

I’ve seen plenty of friends get tattoos by some guy because he charged a nice price but then their tattoo looks horrific! Rather spend the extra money on getting something that’s done properly and you’ll be happy with for the next 50 years. I’m also a big advocate of each to their own, but I would advise against getting something for fun. Yes there’s laser removal, but if your tattoo looks like a joke in 10 years time, laser removal costs more than a tattoo and leaves scars. It’s not worth having something tattooed that was a good idea at the time and looks ridiculous now. It’s just not worth it. Tattoos can be amazing additions to your body, I love each of my tattoos and wouldn’t change any of them, but make sure you do it properly. You really don’t want to be sitting with a tattoo of a carrot that was done horrifically because it seemed like a good idea at the time.