One Thing With Multiple Meanings

It's been so long since I've posted on here! Sorry I've been gone. Between life, school, work, church, and everything in between, I haven't been able to just sit down and write. But now that I'm on Christmas break, I have a lot more time to focus on fun things, like reading and writing more blog posts. I miss this.

So, back to my normal greeting...Hey yall! So, I've talked about wanting to get a tattoo for a few years, but until recently it didn't become real until recently, because me and my roommate have been talking about getting tattoos soon (possibly this month if we have the money). My original idea for my tattoo was to get the lyric: "We've all got battle scars"  (from a Paradise Fears song called "Battle Scars") with the battle scars heart somewhere within the tattoo, on my left shoulder. When I had this idea, I thought about the symbolism behind it, and I wanted it to be somewhere that couldn't be seen because I'm an education major. Well, a few weeks ago I modified the idea of how and where I wanted this tattoo. The premise is still the same, but I switched it up to fit me better.

You may be wondering what my idea is now. Well, I'm gonna tell ya. It all started when I was at work, with no customers waiting, and I began to draw the battle scars heart on my left wrist. I continued to do this for a while. I mean I even draw this heart on just about every piece of paper I can, and apparently my skin is no exception. So, I decided to change the tattoo from my shoulder to my wrist, and I'm cutting out the lyrics (from this tattoo at least, but it may appear on my body one day in another tattoo).

Unless you're a Paradise Fears fan (otherwise called a Turtle) like me, then you probably don't know what I mean by a battle scars heart. A battle scars heart is the image on the front of the band's album titled "Battle Scars", and it's a heart with all pointed edges insted of rounded edges. Also, on the cover, it looks as if it has been painted on there. I really like look of it!

For me personally this tattoo represents a few things for me:

1. It represents one of my all time favorite bands, Paradise Fears. I've listened to their music since sometime my senior year of high school, which was almost 5 years ago. To this day, I think that they hands down have the greatest lyrically written songs in the history of music. It's not your typical cooke cutter pop punk music, they have a style all their own. I  HIGHLY recommend checking them out on Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, or any other place to stream music. Their music speaks to me on a deep level, and I just relate a lot to their songs. Plus, they just happen to be a group of extremely attractive men, who are around my age. And Sam Miller has the voice of an angel! But now I'm getting off on another topic. Just check them out. (They also just dropped their new album "Life in Real Time"! :D)
2. It represents my favorite lyric from their album "Battle Scars". The full lyric that I originally based the tattoo off of is: "You know we've all got battle scars. Keep marching on." Like I said earlier, it comes from the song "Battle Scars". To me, this lyric is a reminder to keep going when things get tough. I can always pick myself up again, and keep going. That's the thing I love about this song. I am always reminded to never give up, no matter how hard life gets. I could flunk out of college, and it's okay, because I'm still alive. My heart is still beating. I still have a God who loves me. I still have friends and family who love me. Life is still good.
3. That brings me to the third meaning of why I want this tattoo. It reminds me that I'm not perfect, and God doesn't expect me to be. Everyone makes mistakes in life. We're sinners! But Jesus died on the cross for our imperfect souls, which I think is the coolest thing EVER! I mean, He could have let us go to Hell , but instead Jesus said, "Father please forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." It's true that it was the Romans who did that, and not me and you, but in all reality, we are crucifying Him again on the cross every time that we sin against Him. That lyric, referenced above, gives me hope that all I have to do is ask God to forgive my sins, and it's all taken care of because Jesus died on the cross. And Jesus is the only person who is perfect, which means EVERYONE is imperfect. I'm not alone in this. It's mind-blowing to think about! PF probably didn't mean for this meaning when they wrote the song, but that's the thing with music, a song can mean one thing to someone, and something completely different for another person.

Those are the three reasons why I want the tattoo. As for the change up, the first reason was that I realized that I was gonna be the only person to see the tattoo, and I would have to look in a mirror just to see it. For all the reasons that I want it, I think it would be silly to get it somewhere that I couldn't really see it to be reminded of it. Secondly, I've seen other education majors with visible tattoos. If they can get away with it, then so can I. If nothing else, I'll hide it with makeup since it's gonna be small. Thirdly, I took out the quote mostly because I didn't have enough room on my wrist for it, and I was having trouble figuring out how I wanted the tattoo. The scariest thing about tattoos is that they're permanent, so if I gotten it and regretted it, it would take a ton more money and pain to get it removed. Not worth it! 

The funniest thing is, I forgot I had drawn it on my wrist the other day in pen, and when I got home, I was doing my hair and forgot it was there. So for a brief moment I was freaked out because I thought I had gotten it tattooed already and didn't remember it. In my defense though, I worked a long shift that day and dealt with tons of people. Sleepiness and confusion just don't work. Below I added a rough picture of how I've been drawing it. When I actually do get it though, I'll probably make it like the album cover version, which will also be posted below.

The heart that I've been drawing on my wrist a lot recently.

The battle scars heart from Paradise Fear's album "Battle Scars". The original cover is black with a gold heart, but I found the just black version on Google. I like this better for a tattoo idea.

Well yall, that's all I have for you this post. I'll try to do better at posting. I'll update you if I actually get my tattoo. But until then, have a great week/weekend, and I'll be back in the next post.

Live for God & Love for Music!

-Patience <3 =)