Aaron's Story
I have known my brother-in-law, Aaron, for more than half my life. It has always felt so natural to have him around with my family…well…all except for that first day that my sister brought him home to meet us, and my little sister and I hid on our basement stairs, too shy to meet him at first. But now he is family — an amazing brother, a great husband to Heather and a loving father to their two kids.

And we share another bond as well — we both have tattoos! (And he helped me choose my tattoo shop back home by talking about how much he liked it there.)

Unlike me, Aaron says he did not think a whole lot about tattoos when he was a kid. However, both of his grandfathers had them, so he says he was also never opposed to tattoos. Then when he was around 18 he had the desire to get tattooed, but he knew it would have to be for something meaningful in his life.

Well, fast forward 8 years (to 2010, I think), and he had a young family of his own — the perfect inspiration for a tattoo. He chose the design of those stick-figure window clings that you see around on the back of cars (including Heather and Aaron’s minivan). He says he liked the concept of this design because it would allow him to easily add to the tattoo as his family grew (which is nice because he has already had to make an addition with the arrival of my niece a year ago.)

Here is a picture of half of Aaron's tatto, featuring his cat (Lily), him, Heather and part of one of the kids.

The other half of his tattoo, featuring the two kids.

(Sorry that the pictures do not give a clear picture of how big the tattoo is or anything, but Aaron was good enough to text me his story and pictures because that was the most convenient way for both of us to do this story. And to give some dimensions to the size of the tattoo, I would say the adults are each about 2 inches tall, and the tattoo wraps a good 5 inches or so around his calf.)

Personally, I love his tattoo. I think it is adorable, and, though it is unique, it is clear that his tattoo represents his family. It is on his calf, and it is not too “in your face,” which I think Heather really appreciates.

Aaron says he would like another tattoo, but that he is not set on any design yet. He just knows that it will, again, have to represent something meaningful in his life.

Thanks for joining me for this story behind the ink. I have loved sharing it with all of you. If you have any tattoo stories you would like to share with me, as usual, leave a comment or e-mail me at kimberlygarlick@cedarville.edu. Thanks so much for reading! I’ll be back here on Wednesday (hopefully), and we’ll see what I can come up with for that day. Have a great week!