I’m A Mom With Tattoo’s – Belinda From Making Mountains

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.

How has the load shedding affected you?  According to our allocated times, it shouldn’t be too bad for us (if they stick to them) – but you just never know…  Thankfully it’s not the heart of Winter like the last time that our family found ourselves without power.  If you have some power – go and make something lovely and hot to drink – if you don’t then um, how are you reading this?  Just joking, I’m not that blonde – take your phone with you while you go and find something cold to drink 🙂

Image by Robyn Rose Photography

Today we are meeting Belinda.  I read her blog regularly and enjoy getting a glimpse into her life.  She may only have one tattoo but it’s a powerful one, so let’s get to it!

Blog: Making Mountains 

Age: 34

Occupation: Copywriter

Family: I grew up on a farm in the Eastern Cape and we go back regularly to visit family – it really is my favourite place in the world! After university in Cape Town I went to London to live and work, which is where I met my husband Gareth. After eight years there we moved back to SA in 2009 to settle in Joburg. In 2010 our daughter Rachel was born and then in 2013 baby Ben joined us.

Work: I worked in book publishing for just over eight years before leaving to start a web copywriting agency called Black Mountain with a friend. My business partner Catherine and I both meet regularly with clients, existing and potential ones.

Tell us a bit about your tattoos, what they are, why you have them, where they are located:

I only have one tattoo, which is three lines of poetry and it’s on my right hip.

I’d always wanted a tattoo but I wanted it to be meaningful and not just something done on a whim that I would regret later.

Losing my Mom to brain cancer was a very significant event in my life. I felt like a changed person afterwards and I wanted something to remind me both of her and of the new person I was. My tattoo was also a reminder of a very dark time in my life, but one that I survived – and I wanted to celebrate that.

The words are taken from a poem read at her funeral:

When you wake in the morning’s hush

I am the swift uplifting rush

Of quiet birds in circled flight

You can read more about the significance of that poem at this post on my blog.

For me getting a tattoo was a very personal thing, it had nothing to do with what people thought and it wasn’t really a statement as such, because it is in a place that not many people will ever see.

Image by Robyn Rose Photography

Age of first tattoo: 31

Do you plan on getting more? I haven’t ruled it out, but it will take quite a big event in my life for me to get another one.

How do your family and friends feel about your tattoo(s)? Not many people know I have it but the friends that have seen it think that it suits me.

What is the general reaction that “the Public” have towards your tattoos?  Have you run into any negativity or adversity because of them? Because it’s hidden by my clothes, I’ve never received any negative reactions to it. I think that people’s views towards tattoos have changed over the last few years. My parents’ generation viewed tattoos in a very negative light but I think that the stigma is disappearing and it’s become very common (and popular) amongst the people I know.

Any advice for those interested in getting tattooed? I think it’s important to really love whatever you’re going to have tattooed on you, as it’s going to be with you for life. If you’re getting text (like I did) it’s worth asking the tattoo artist’s advice on size. I got mine done really small and now wish I’d made it a bit larger as the ink spreads a bit over the years and the writing can smudge.

Saying that, I love my tattoo because of what it represents to me and I think that ultimately, that’s all that really matters.