Most teenagers who get tattoos dread telling their parents and most parents dread the day that their kids come home with tattoos. So, Diana Register thought long and hard when her daughter told her she wanted to get a tattoo, but ultimately she allowed it.
And she doesn’t give a damn about what you think of her decision.
“I let my 15-year-old daughter get a tattoo, and no, I don’t care what anybody has to say about it,” she wrote in a story for Love What Matters. “Documenting important events in the form of a tattoo is nothing new, in fact, some cultures still view it as an actual rite of passage. Warriors did it to commemorate their battles, and to honor those who have fallen.”
Diana was concerned that her daughter’s want for a tattoo would be a passing fad and that her daughter would one day regret it.
“So when my teenager asked me for one, trust me, I thought about it. And thought about it. And thought about it. What was her reason? What did she want? Was she trying to impress her friends? Was she just following some trend?” she asked herself.
“We talked about it and she told me that she wanted to get a very small, very appropriate tattoo to honor her dad, who passed away from cancer when she was 13. Even with that reasoning, I still struggled with it.”
Diana’s older daughter Savanna had gotten a tribute tattoo on the top of her foot that reads “I IV IX” the Roman numerals for 1-4-9.
It was her father’s police badge number.
” I couldn’t think of a more beautiful tribute. In fact, it still takes my breath away. I started thinking about the meaning and it was so much deeper than just numbers,” Diana wrote. “You see, after his valiant fight with his disease, his badge number has become synonymous with strength, courage, and hope. That’s what it means to me, and clearly what it means to my kids.”
Diana herself got a tattoo for her husband.
It’s an image of his EKG which shows his heartbeat which is tattooed on her foot.
“So when Kaitlyn and her sister decided to get a tattoo to respect the battle and to honor their hero that fell, there was no way I was standing in the way of that. Not for one second,” she said.
So she allowed her 15-year-old daughter to get a tattoo that was similar to her sister’s tattoo.
Except that the Roman numerals were placed on her inner ankle.
Diana watched as her daughter soldiered through tough times, held her dad’s hand while he took his last breath, and stayed with him for a while after he died. Despite this tragic loss, her daughter went on to excel in school and in her personal life.
“One of my favorite things was laying on his chest listening to his heartbeat, and now I can still see it anytime I want. And my kids can look at theirs and be reminded that they can survive anything,” Diana wrote.
“So yes, I let my 15-year-old get a tattoo and no, I don’t care what anybody has to say about it, because they have shown me, you, and anybody else who will listen what surviving looks like. They get to show that off however they damn well want to. They’ve earned it.”
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