Naomi Weisman is a Canadian-Australian and mother of three, who loves to ramble with her dog, cook for family and friends, and laugh whenever possible.
Growing up, tattoos were always taboo in my family. They were for prison inmates and troublemakers. So, why have I always had a fascination with them?
When I was 21 and traveling in Thailand, I could regularly be found flipping through the photo albums of one of the many tattoo parlors in Bangkok, daydreaming about what art I would so boldly come home with to shock my parents.
This went on for years. Even after getting married to a very conservative man and having three kids. I cannot explain why I had this obsession, except to say that I needed to express something, and there wasn’t any other way to do it.
Fast forward to 2009 and meeting my biological family in Australia. I was raised in a very pragmatic family who didn’t talk about anything “airy-fairy” as my parents would say. So, when I had a vivid dream about being lost, I felt panicked and then saw my “connection” in the distance and calmed down…. I finally knew what my tattoo would be.
In my dream, I was a turtle on the beach. I felt completely lost until I saw a group of turtles in the distance. Seeing them calmed me and made my heart rate slow. I knew instinctively that this group of turtles must have been what I was looking for all along. This dream left me confused because I have always been so connected to the family I grew up knowing and loving.
In 2010, after meeting my bio family feeling accepted by everyone, and understanding what the dream meant to me, I looked for a tattoo artist who understood how to translate my dream into art. To this day, I have not one single regret about my tattoo.
I would get another one as long as the meaning of it was profound and felt as much a part of me as my first one. My turtles are as much a part of me as my fingers and toes.
To answer the earlier question of why I’ve always had a fascination with tattoos, maybe there is an airy-fairy side to me that always knew what their importance could be.
The things that drive us to do things are interesting. What drives a person to permanently ink their bodies is so personal and individual.
READ MORE: Her Story, Ramblers Cafe.
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