This is my first tattoo I got on my 18th birthday at Iron Works in downtown Portsmouth New Hampshire. Like my other four tattoos this tattoo has a meaning behind it, but this one is different.The meaning behind this one is very significant and only a few of my friends know its true meaning.  Until my sophomore year of high school, I thought the man that I called “dad” was my biological father, but he wasn’t. My mom got pregnant when she was eighteen years old by the guy she had previously dated for 2 years. When she found out she was pregnant with me she also found out that the guy she was dating had been cheating on her and when she confronted him he said he never wanted anything to do with her and their unborn child. So she did what was best for both herself and me, she left him. She was a single mother for five years, until she met the man who I consider to be my father, Sean. He stepped up on so many levels he went from being a 23 year old bachelor to a father without thinking twice, he later asked my mother to marry him. Once they got married I also took his last name, but not legally. My sophomore year my high school explained to my parents I needed to go by my biological last name for SAT purposes and soon college. Thats when I personally decided to take Sean’s last name as my own. So when I turned 18 I knew exactly what I wanted to do for my first tattoo.  I chose the tree of life! The tree I chose to use is actually a necklace all the women in my family have. In the roots I decided to put Neal, because no matter who I get married I will always be a Neal. By putting my last name in the roots its supposed to symbolize how that name has made the women I am today. Also around the tree there are five doves, one for my mom, my dad, my brother and myself. One of the doves in fact is a teal, that dove is for my uncle who was a huge part of my life who passed away my senior year in high school from cancer.  I am absolutely in love with how my tattoo came out!! The artist, Nick Filth did an amazing job, with listening to exactly what I wanted, and making sure it came out incredible because of the meaning behind it! It may be a simple tattoo but its exactly what I wanted and asked for! 

This is my first tattoo I got on my 18th birthday at Iron Works in downtown Portsmouth New Hampshire. Like my other four tattoos this tattoo has a meaning behind it, but this one is different.The meaning behind this one is very significant and only a few of my friends know its true meaning. 

Until my sophomore year of high school, I thought the man that I called “dad” was my biological father, but he wasn’t. My mom got pregnant when she was eighteen years old by the guy she had previously dated for 2 years. When she found out she was pregnant with me she also found out that the guy she was dating had been cheating on her and when she confronted him he said he never wanted anything to do with her and their unborn child. So she did what was best for both herself and me, she left him. She was a single mother for five years, until she met the man who I consider to be my father, Sean. He stepped up on so many levels he went from being a 23 year old bachelor to a father without thinking twice, he later asked my mother to marry him. Once they got married I also took his last name, but not legally.

My sophomore year my high school explained to my parents I needed to go by my biological last name for SAT purposes and soon college. Thats when I personally decided to take Sean’s last name as my own. So when I turned 18 I knew exactly what I wanted to do for my first tattoo. 

I chose the tree of life! The tree I chose to use is actually a necklace all the women in my family have. In the roots I decided to put Neal, because no matter who I get married I will always be a Neal. By putting my last name in the roots its supposed to symbolize how that name has made the women I am today. Also around the tree there are five doves, one for my mom, my dad, my brother and myself. One of the doves in fact is a teal, that dove is for my uncle who was a huge part of my life who passed away my senior year in high school from cancer. 

I am absolutely in love with how my tattoo came out!! The artist, Nick Filth did an amazing job, with listening to exactly what I wanted, and making sure it came out incredible because of the meaning behind it! It may be a simple tattoo but its exactly what I wanted and asked for!