Stephanie Bricker
Student Writer
“A way to permanently honor someone who was only temporarily in my life.” That’s how Taylor Forbes, who is majoring in human development and family science with a minor in multicultural family studies, describes her memorial tattoo. Who exactly is the tattoo in memory of? Keep reading to find out.
What does your tattoo mean to you?
I got this tattoo in honor of my mother, who passed away on October 22, 2017. Growing up, I always loved buying my mother flowers. They made her so happy and brought so much joy into a home that sometimes struggled to find it. However, not always having a ton of money as a kid, I always bought my mom Carnations, which were super cheap at the store! She grew to love them so much because they were so much more than just a flower! My mom loved how great they smelled and how long they lasted, too. Her favorite color was purple because of its Biblical significance of royalty, as well as it’s significance to the crucifixion.
How long had you thought about getting this tattoo before you did it?
I knew I wanted to get a tattoo for a long time, but I never was able to find something that had a ton of significance that I was willing to get. This December while on break, I had mentioned to my sister (who has a lot of tattoos!) that I was interested in getting the carnation in honor of mom, and I got it about a week later.
Was there anything that made you hesitate to get a tattoo?
Absolutely not. It is such a beautiful way for me to permanently honor someone who was only temporarily in my life. It seemed like to perfect thing to do.
Do you think the culture around tattoos is changing? Particularly in Christian settings?
I believe so! At least in my life, tattoos have never been portrayed as necessarily a 
bad thing (again, my sister has many!), but I think we as a culture are shifting towards an apathetic view of tattoos. I don’t see anyone getting extremely worked up about them; I think it’s becoming so normalized in many aspects that we just don’t think twice about it.
What is your favorite part of your tattoo?
I think my favorite part actually comes from the artist that did it for me. He is a good family friend of ours, and his son attends the summer camp I have been working at for a while, and they are an amazing family of faith. It felt so much more intentional getting it done by him, and having that faith connection was really comforting, especially since it was my first one.
Do you think you’ll get any more?
I’m not sure. This will definitely be the only one for a while. Its significance is so important to me, and it is so strong that I don’t want to take away from it. If I were to have another reason to get one I wouldn’t mind doing so, it’s just not something I am actively looking to do in the near future.