My tattoo is a sparrow. I’ve learned and observed throughout my life that sparrows are typically birds that nest and feed in groups or at least with two or three other sparrows. I feel like I am the type of person that embodies the characteristics sparrows have—I love being with people; I depend on them and I rely on my friends and family for support. However, the reason why I only have one sparrow versus two or three is: I’ve gone through much more than a typical 18 year old has, and throughout the struggles in my life I choose to keep things to myself. I deal with problems without searching for support of my friends or my family and although at the time I know i could have asked for help/support, I pushed through on my own. And that has made me a much stronger person. So, this tattoo was a tribute to me on my 18th birthday in December of 2010. I got it done at Ed Hardy’s Tattoo City in San Francisco, CA. The artist was Jen Lee and she was amazing. My best friend Mary Kate held my hand while Jen tattooed on my first tattoo. It took a while for Jen and I to find the right sparrow that I was “creating” in my mind for the past month and when her and I finally found it, we both knew it would be great. My favorite thing about my tattoo is that it doesn’t exactly look like a common tattoo. There is little outlining and it looks a bit watercolor-ed on, and this is sometimes an issue when explaining to my friends or anyone that see it that it IS a real tattoo!

My tattoo is a sparrow.

I’ve learned and observed throughout my life that sparrows are typically birds that nest and feed in groups or at least with two or three other sparrows. I feel like I am the type of person that embodies the characteristics sparrows have—I love being with people; I depend on them and I rely on my friends and family for support. However, the reason why I only have one sparrow versus two or three is: I’ve gone through much more than a typical 18 year old has, and throughout the struggles in my life I choose to keep things to myself. I deal with problems without searching for support of my friends or my family and although at the time I know i could have asked for help/support, I pushed through on my own. And that has made me a much stronger person. So, this tattoo was a tribute to me on my 18th birthday in December of 2010.

I got it done at Ed Hardy’s Tattoo City in San Francisco, CA. The artist was Jen Lee and she was amazing. My best friend Mary Kate held my hand while Jen tattooed on my first tattoo. It took a while for Jen and I to find the right sparrow that I was “creating” in my mind for the past month and when her and I finally found it, we both knew it would be great. My favorite thing about my tattoo is that it doesn’t exactly look like a common tattoo. There is little outlining and it looks a bit watercolor-ed on, and this is sometimes an issue when explaining to my friends or anyone that see it that it IS a real tattoo!