Love, Dad
I have three bigger tattoos, all done by different Silver Key artists. I love all of them, and they each represent something special. The one on my back represents my husband and children. The half sleeve I have includes elements relating to my parents and siblings.
However, my newest tattoo—done by Megan Kautz—incorporates elements of one of the biggest moments in my life. It started out as something small and bloomed into a much larger piece thanks to Megan’s vision.
In April of 2024, my daughter and I got matching tattoos on her birthday. It was the only tattoo I’ve had done that wasn’t at Silver Key. My daughter prefers simple line tattoos, whereas I like vibrant colors. She chose a simple sun and moon design. I had mine placed on my inner forearm. I was disappointed with the line work and, overall, how the tattoo turned out. I knew I wanted to add something to it to soften it and make it something more—I just didn’t know what.
During this time, my younger sister was moving out of the apartment she had lived in for over a decade. She found a letter our father had written her before her confirmation. Our father passed away suddenly—twenty years ago this year. She was so happy to have found something with his handwriting, as none of us had anything like that anymore. After that conversation, I decided I wanted to have the “Love, Dad” at the end of the letter tattooed on me in his handwriting. I thought somewhere around the sun and moon would be the perfect place.
I knew I needed something more than just the handwriting to help me feel at peace with the original tattoo. A couple of weeks later, I was telling my kids about my dad. My daughter, who is 24, is the only one who ever met him; my two younger boys hadn’t been born yet when he passed.
I was telling them the story of when my dad came to the hospital to meet my daughter for the first time. She had been born in the middle of the night—Saturday into Sunday. At the time, my dad was in a two-person play at St. Ambrose, and their final performance was that Sunday. Sunday morning, my mom and siblings came to the hospital to meet her. My dad came after the performance was over. By then, it was just my mom, the baby, and me in the room.
My dad walked in with three roses: one yellow, one white, and one pink. He always gave my mom yellow roses because they symbolized friendship, and my mom was his best friend. White roses had always been my favorite flower. The pink rose was for my daughter—his first and only grandchild he ever got to meet.
After telling that story to my kids, I knew I wanted to incorporate those three roses into the tattoo along with the handwriting and sun and moon.
I contacted The Silver Key to see which artist would be best for the idea, and I got connected with Megan. When I met with her, we discussed possibly adding smaller flowers around the sun and moon, the handwriting, or some sort of drip effect. It was supposed to be a one-session tattoo.
On the day of my appointment, Megan asked for a bit more time because she had a different idea. She ended up showing me various rose and mandala stencils, and she hand-drew parts of the design. It became a tattoo that took three sessions and was much larger than I had originally anticipated.
Megan also fixed the look of the sun and moon, which makes me so happy. I love what it became. Every time I look down, I see those words written in my dad’s handwriting—and that is priceless.