Caleb's Log v.13 THE tattoo

 As some of you know, I got a tattoo a couple of months ago.  It's of a gorilla, some imigongo (rwandan art), and my Kinyarwanda name, Kalibu.  While this is a significant tattoo, it was really just a way to break the seal so that I could get the tattoo that I've had in my head for more than 8 years.

When Mazie was born (or before actually) she was given the Elephant as her "spirit animal."  We're not that spiritual, but the imagery and the animal had a lot to do with Katie's mom, Katie, and this baby, "peanut."  Elephants are matriarchical (is that a word) and the line from Tracy to Mazie is very sweet.

When Athena was in Katie's tummy (that's not how babies are made) Katie asked me and Mazie what we thought this baby's animal should be.  I was thinking Tiger in my head and little 2 year old Mazie said, "Tiger."  So we went with it and called Athena tiger for the rest of the pregnancy.

Our third child was given the owl as her animal.  This story was a little more about balancing the three.  We thought about a water animal or a flying animal or a whole list of other land animals.  I think we settled on the owl, because it's wise and quiet and little, but it's actually a stealth predator. Somehow, being the youngest of 3, there was some thought that this little animal would be fierce.  So, Alexandra (aka Zae, aka Alexa, aka Lexi, aka Monster) is our owl.

I'm not a good artist, but in my head I pictured an image of an Elephant with a Tiger between her legs, with an own between her legs.  Kind of a Russian doll of my daughters' animals.  The image didn't include any reference to Katie, but I was okay with that.  This is a tattoo about my kids.  We were pretty sure that we weren't having a 4th, so 8 years ago I wanted to get this tattoo.  I don't have any tattoos, so it is a pretty big deal and I haven't been able to pull the trigger.

Fast forward to a couple of months ago and I got the gorilla tattoo with almost no planning and much less significance.  The Gorilla is my animal, but the whole tattoo is a "welcoming" tattoo and a remembrance of Rwanda.  (The Gorilla is a "welcoming" animal, Imigongo is "welcoming" art, and the word Karibu is "welcome" in Swahili)

 A few weeks ago, when we were on safari, Katie said, "I think my spirit animal is a tree." And then my tattoo design was nearly complete.  I decided to put an Acacia tree over my animals to represent their mama watching over them.  Finally, I decided to add roots under the whole design to represent my parents and siblings (I was the youngest of 4 for several years before Shannon took the mantle.)  In design, we decided that the art needed ground between the animals and the roots, otherwise they look like they're floating.  I like the ground we went with and to me it represents my community...the world that we all stand on and in.

So, here are the iterations of the tattoo with the last one being on my body.  :)

Drawn on a napkin in Akagera National Park

Tattoo artist's (Jaycee) first, beautiful concept.

Second draft with far less detail and including the tree, roots, and ground.

Third draft with "less intense" roots and tree.

Fourth draft that I liked a bunch, but the ground was gone and the tree was a little to wonky for me.

Yes please, but maybe not so much tree.  We'll crop in the final version.

Pen drawing to confirm the general placement.

The real deal.  Ouch!

First draft to final tattoo.