Family

All but one person in my family has tattoo's. Most of us have more than one. I have five now. My mother has 7, my third oldest brother has 3, the first oldest has 4, and my sister has one. My family is a tattoo family. My grandparent's have them. My aunt's and uncle's have them' Growing up with tattoo's in my family not only made me curious about them, i wanted to know what each one meant and why they got it. I remember once asking my mother about her tattoo on the knuckles. She has Bubb on her Right hand and les on the other. Her nickname is bubbles from high school, her cousins gave her this first tattoo when she was 18. She got it cause at the time it was very popular to get a tattoo to show how tough you were. Plus she wanted something to show off. I guess the hand is the last place i would get tattooed! Well i got my fifth tattoo today. I got something that has a huge influence in my life. A few years ago i have lost two great people in my life that were very close to me. My grandfather Leroy F. Ward and my Aunt Rachel Ward. I loved these two with all my heart. My grandfather due to i am named after him and i get alot of my traits from him. Plus i loved listening to him talk about when he was younger and what he did in the war, and how my mother would get into mishaps. I loved when he would tell me the stories about his tattoos. The one with my grandma's name. The were in love and my g-pa wanted to show how much he loved her. He was in the army at the time and he went to the tattoo shop and got her name on his arm. When he got out he rushed over to her house to show her how much he cared. At first my grandma was displeased that my g-pa did this to his body, Until he explained why he did it, than it all came to her. I miss him very much and think about him lots. I love him mucho.

My aunt Rachel is one of my role models in my family. She is a strong woman i looked up too. She was a babe, a mink, a teacher of life to me, and took me to places i normally would not go to. She taught me about life and how to life it. She was an amazing woman. She was the only aunt that wanted to be apart of my life. She lived in Northern California and would make the trip up to see us for holiday's, family gatherings, and other important things. She had tattoo's of her kid's name on her chest, close to her heart. She loved her family every much. I remember before she passed away, She cant to my graduation. That meant so much to me. Even though she was sick, she lived her life to the fullest! Nothing was to hold her back. When i was younger i asked her about her tattoo. She told me that you only live once and to live you life the way you want to. She also told me, that family is forever. No matter how much you don't like your family, they will be there for you no matter what. Stay close to your family and it will do wonders to you. I have learned that this is true. I truly miss her as well. I sometimes wonder what if she was still here.


I chose the feather's cause we are Native Americans and the eagle feather is the highest rank in our culture. But instead of eagle i chose more Angelic feathers. They are both in better places and these are the feathers that helped them through their lives and soar up. This is my new family tattoo. Family is first. Even if there are some that don't want to be apart of my life. Well there you go. My new tattoo. And it didn't hurt much!

Princessa Derek