I currently have six tattoos (somewhat unobtrusive). I may want another one of these days. I've always been fascinated by Celtic knotwork, and I've been thinking about having an anklet done...

I'll describe my tattoos in the order I got them - and why I got them (if I can analyze myself that clearly)...

She's on my right front shoulder, in that soft white hollow just above the breast. My stepdad had always told me I was stupid and ugly, and I had always believed him. Then I started finding lovers (many lovers) who thought I *was* attractive, so I decided I would try to become a butterfly.

He's on the back of my right wrist (the only tattoo whose placement I regret). Back to my stepfather - he had always told me that I was worthless and stupid and nobody would ever love me. If I got an A on a test, he beat me for not getting an A+. He had me convinced that I was stupid.

When I was in my late teens, a friend talked me into taking the Mensa test, kind of on a dare - and my scores were in the upper 1st and 2nd percentile. The owl was a symbol chosen to celebrate that I actually had some intelligence (hopefully wisdom will come) after all.

It's on the back of my left forearm. My mother committed suicide three days after Christmas when I was fourteen years old and eight months pregnant. The peacock feather was something she apparently doodled on a draft copy of her suicide note. Perhaps a bit macabre, but I made that a permanent part of my daily existence...

They're on the back of my right shoulder (see photo below). The two swans form a heart with their heads and necks. I got this tattoo the year after I married Vince.

We both felt like ugly ducklings throughout most of our lives, but had come to believe we might actually grow into swans. Also, swans are a symbol of everlasting love. I *do* hope that we will always love each other, regardless of how much our lives may change.

He's on my left back shoulder. He carries a bedraggled bouquet of flowers and is very cute, not at all fierce. I don't know why I got this tattoo. I just thought he was adorable. Perhaps he represents innocence and a child's unconditional love. OTOH, perhaps it represented my inner child - or my fury, tamed.

She's on my left front shoulder, just above my breast, on that very tender skin. This was the most painful of my tattoos, but she was worth it. She has Blue, Orange, and Teal flowers twined in her mane. When I wear a bra and/or a low-cut blouse, you can just barely see the Unicorn's horn poking out...

I've always loved fantasy and science fiction. The deeper meaning of the unicorn, I suppose, is that I had always felt unclean (because of the various types of abuse I had suffered, both as a child and as an adolescent). When I finally began to feel somewhat cleansed of those traumas, I thought the unicorn might serve as a good symbol to represent that purification.

Also, there's a terrific song (called "Best Friend") by Margie Adams about a lonely child. The lyrics in the song really struck home for me. Some of the lines are: