Many tattoos have deep meanings, some tattoos may have a sad or happy story behind them while others may be a way for people to express themselves.
Natalie Bombard, Placer High School’s American sign language teacher has a design of a wave with a date as her first tattoo at the age of 23. The meaning behind this is her grandpa died and her favorite memory with him was at the beach. Bombard shared her grandfather told her he would pay $100 if she waited to get a tattoo until the age of 18.
“If you think about it, it’s ironic, my tattoo cost around $100 and he paid me that much. It’s like he paid for it,” states Bombard
She has two other tattoos, one of them is Roman numerals with her wedding date with a leaf above it, matching with her husband.
She also has a tattoo with her best friend, they have their birth flowers on each other. Bombard does not regret any of these, because they are special to her. In the future, she might get more tattoos but doesn’t know what yet, “..maybe spontaneous ones”.
Ryan Miller, an English teacher at Placer High School, has two tattoos. He has wanted a meaningful tattoo since he was young.
“I didn’t know exactly what I wanted for years until after my grandparents passed away,” stated Miller.
Miller wanted a way to remember them, as his first tattoo at 27 years old Miller got a blue jay as a way to remember his grandpa. One of Miller’s favorite memories with his grandfather was spending time outdoors during the summer feeding the birds and observing the birds in his grandpa’s backyard. His grandpa’s favorite bird was always the blue jay.
Miller’s grandpa always admired the blue jay for its patience and thoughtfulness as he would say, “…he [the blue jay] wanted to ensure the other birds got enough to eat before he began eating himself,” the blue jay.
Miller’s grandpa would then turn and look at him and say, “… that I needed to model this behavior and be like the blue jay, or as he lovingly called him, his bluebird of happiness”.
Miller’s second tattoo is a bison with the Grand Tetons behind it for his other grandpa. When he was young he went on a family trip to Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park. While he was on the main highway in Yellowstone a herd of American Bison stampeded across the highway right in front of his van. When it came to the end three baby bison were the last to cross but then the herd alpha came out of nowhere and had a stare-down with his van. He later learned that is how the bison protect their herd, the babies in the back, and the alpha stays behind with them to protect them.
His grandpa then turns to him and says, “We can learn something from them; we should always look out and protect our young,” to this day almost every day during Christmas they share this story.
In the future, Miller shared he might get a tattoo of the Golden Gate Bridge with the San Fransisco Bay as he is a huge Giants and 49ers fan, and he has spread his grandma’s and grandpa’s ashes in the ocean right outside the Golden Gates.
Chelsey Thompson, a teacher at Placer High School has a tattoo of flowers designed by her son and her students.
“My students and my son drew the flowers and the tattoo artist copied what I showed them exactly,” stated Thompson.
Thompson shared she is still in contact with the students that the tattoo is dedicated to and does not regret it at all saying, “It’s just special to me.”
She has 5 tattoos in total. She has a quote from her child on her foot, a Simpsons character, Lake Tahoe, and a ghost with a black cat.
After her first tattoo, she was quick to get more, “As time went on I thought about my tattoos less and less”.
All tattoos have a story behind them, whether it is a deeper meaning or an impulse decision.