Whenever a story about a tattoo gets posted on Reddit, I always hear comments of "oh, she/he's just going to regret it later..." But what tattoos do you have, that are of real significance to you?

Not mine, but a friend's.

He was diagnosed with diabetes when he was a kid, and he had to constantly wear a MedicAlert bracelet. However, he was always forgetful; he didn't like how it felt on his arm, ad so kept taking it off when he went to bed or took a shower, but forgot to put it back on. This pretty much kept happening even as he grew up, got married, and had a kid.

One day, he decided, "Fuck it, one of these days my forgetfulness might kill me," so he got a MedicAlert bracelet tattooed on his right wrist in case he's ever in an accident or something.

And wouldn't you know it, he was in a serious car accident about half a year ago, and he had to be taken to the hospital to be treated. The paramedics and doctors certainly said it's one of the most convenient things they've seen.

I have a tattoo of an ivy leaf and vine on my inner bicep.

My grandfather was born in the early 1900's in rural Louisiana to a white man and the black daughter of a slave. They were banished from their village because interracial marriages were not socially acceptable. Due to this neither of my great grandparents received much of an education or interacted with society much.

My great grandmother died shortly after giving birth to my grandfather, but before she died she named him Ivy.

When my grandfather started going to elementary school, his teacher took him aside and let him know that Ivy was actually a girl's name, so from then on his name would be Ivan, which remained his name until he died about 10 years ago.

When my daughter was born I named her Ivy, after her grandfather.

And then I got the tattoo.

My tattoo doesn't mean anything. Its cherry blossoms with some black curly vines on my shoulder. I think its very pretty and I want to get it extended down the side of my back. For awhile, I wanted my first tattoo to mean something.

I realized somewhere along the way that it doesn't matter if it means anything. I just like pretty things and as long as I think its elegant and beautiful, I'll always love it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40711947@N03/3746705516/

[deleted]

My tattoo combines my three favorite things: horses, art, and archaeology.

It's perfect for me, and I love it.

Edit: Since at least one person doesn't seem to get it, they are cave drawings from Lascaux and Pech Merle.

weird...i've got a treble clef on my thigh. i'm still a musician and it's shaped my life. no regrets. it's not really meant for people to see anyway. occasionally I'll get the old "that's not original" tattoo argument - like i'm the first person in the history of the world to love music and spend most of my time doing it, right...

i'll probably get some more later, likely a solid black wedding band soon...

I got 50-some-odd stars tattooed on my face one time. I thought they were great, but my dad went ballistic on me so I made up this great story about how I fell asleep in the chair and some nefarious foreigner tattooed my entire face against my will for reasons that aren't immediately obvious.

Everyone believed me forever and I am totally not insane. Plus my face looks awesome, like a carebear threw up on it or something!

I have 東(East) on my right arm, which is representative of the East wind in Mahjong. My mom had the same thing. After she died, I got it because of that, and because she was the one that taught me how to play Mahjong (the 4 player style, not the matching game), so it was a positive memory of her. I am thinking about getting 西(West) put on my other arm to create some balance.

I agonized over my first two for a couple years before committing, knowing the permanence of them and not wanting to have regrets later in life.

I have the Star Wars Rebel insignia on my left shoulder, and the Imperial (or Republic) one on my right. For me they also represent an overall sense of balance.

I have a poppy between my shoulder blades with "Lest We Forget" underneath. My grandfather served in a British tank batallion in WWII and spent nine months in a POW camp, weighing 90 lb and losing all his teeth by the time he was freed.

There is a red maple leaf over my heart.

Most recently (three months ago), I got a right forearm band that spells out my two sons' names in Aurebesh, joined by a small heart.

I don't see myself ever regretting ANY of those, and I suspect there will be more in the future as events inspire.

I have two most meaningful tattoos:

The Enterprise on my wrist.

"I am for you." on my chest.

[deleted]

I have most of a sleeve tattooed on my right arm. My identical twin brother has the same tattoos on his left arm. We're mirror images.

My grandfather was a navy man and got some tattoos done while he served. We're native american, he was originally Canadian. His mother died when he was very young and the state of Canada said that a man wasn't fit to raise a child so he was put up in one of the state boarding schools for indians. He was beaten almost daily, and they were mainly fed potatoes and vegetables. The children were beaten if they spoke the native tongue, and my grandpa was getting fed up.

He ended up saving up as much food as he could when he was 16 years old and ran away to America. He crossed the border in Michigan and signed up to join the Navy. While he was in the Navy he met my grandmother in the Detroit area.

All of my tattoos are related to my native american heritage. Traditional images and beadwork are part of the designs. While I'm only 1/2 native, I grew up and spent a lot of time with my Grandfather and he taught me how to smoke a peace pipe and how it's important to give back to the land.

[Pic 1 climbing John's Rock near Asheville NC](http://www.swampbots.com/pics/Dan with Tattoos 01.jpg)

[Pic 2 at a friends birthday party](http://www.swampbots.com/pics/Dan with Tattoos 02.jpg)

[Pic 3 playing a show with my brother before he moved to Tampa](http://www.swampbots.com/pics/Dan with Tattoos 03.jpg)

In the Red Eye (local free paper) today there's a section on tattoos and tattoo fads. They talk about how people always want to get tattoos similar to what celebrities get. I couldn't help but think if you're getting something like a tattoo because Megan Fox has one - you should be legally barred from making decisions for yourself and/or others.

Since day one my dad had said that the song, Isn't she Lovely (Stevie Wonder) was the song he would sing to me when I was a baby. After he passed I got 'Made From Love' on the back of my neck.

[deleted]

[deleted]

[deleted]

I have four.

Mjölnir, or Thor's Hammer on my right deltoid. First tattoo, I got it because I like the design, and because I admire Thor in all of the lore and mythology.

Two runes, Ansuz and Thurisaz on my right and left forearms. Thurisaz represents (among other things) the giants, force, instinct, the unprovoked will, while Ansuz represents speech, poetry, and Divinity. I like the dualism. Later, I realised that the two letters form the prefix to infinitive verbs in Icelandic and Old Norse (að).

An Irish symbol of the sun, eternal life, and the Resurrection. It was a particular favourite of my nan's - she owned a pendant of the very symbol which was passed on to me when she died. It's something of a memorial to her.

Soon to get a swan and salmon tattooed onto my chest - the warrior's spirit, and wisdom, respectively.

I have this on the upper left part of my back. It means ronin. Now I know kanji tattoos became popular for people to get but this tattoo wasn't influenced by popular tattoo styles but more of the meaning behind it. For a large part it has to do with a famous ronin by the name of Miyamoto_Musashi. And the book he wrote The book of the five rings which is still studied today for its ideas on tactics and philosophy of fighting/combat. This man was, for lack of a better word, a man-raptor. He felt so strongly about his way of fighting he would offer an open challenge any person in a duel in order to prove it. He didn't do it for glory or some mock sense of honor, this was different. The purpose was to prove by doing not simply by study. He felt that if he should be killed in a duel then his hypothesis was incorrect and would need adjustment by the followers of his style of sword fighting. He was a crafty and resourceful general on the battlefield as well.

Ronin weren't to be admired in feudal Japan, they were looked down on as scum. They had no masters and during a certain time in history would seek employment as mercenaries or bodyguards for a price. But they were free from societal and custom restraints. Many valued that type of lifestyle to the deeply rooted system of honor and structure the traditional samurai followed. They did their own thing and told everybody else to go fuck themselves if they didn't like it. This is why I got this tattoo. I don't care how I am viewed in society based on my actions. I have no master nor will I ever allow one to control my own destiny. I go where I wanna go, do what I wanna do...anybody that doesn't like it?...extends middle finger Nor will I regret this tattoo.

I'm against the idea that all tattoos should be deep and meaningful to you. I have a cool looking bird on my back. It has no special meaning, I've had it for 9 years, and have never ever regretted it. It just looks cool. What's wrong with decoration without meaning? I considered getting a religious tattoo when I was younger. That would have been deep and meaningful, and I would fucking hate it now.