Sophomore, family celebrate birthday with tattoos

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Aislinn O’Neill looks away while getting her flower tattoo.

To celebrate her 16th birthday, sophomore Aislinn O’Neill, her mom and her grandmother each got tattoos of infinity signs.

O’Neill’s tattoo is of an infinity sign with a blue rose on her forearm.

“It doesn’t really have a meaning. It’s more of a symbol of my family,” O’Neill said. “First me and my mom were going to get matching ones and then my grandma decided to get an infinity dove with a yellow rose. My mom got a lavender infinity and [my sister] wants an infinity one with a flower too.”

O’Neill said it took about three months for her to decide what she wanted.

“I was going back and forth between a lavender and the rose,” O’Neill said. “I originally wanted a lavender going up the back of my leg, from the top of my ankle up to mid calf area. I’m not a floral person, but I liked the look of it.

Both of her parents have tattoos and she said she really likes them and is planning on getting more.

“I have never been skeptical of tattoos,” she said. “My mom has two tattoos and my dad gave himself a tattoo when he was 15. I think tattoos are gorgeous on the body. I mean it’s your body, you can choose what to do with it.”

Right before she got the tattoo, she said she felt nervous but it was not as painful as she imagined it would be.

“I was like ‘Oh my gosh this is probably going to hurt a lot’ but it didn’t hurt that bad,” O’Neill said. “When he was filling in the flower I kind of flinched a little but that was it. First [the pain] was probably like a 3.5 and then it went up to a 4 and the flower was probably a 5.”

By Mackenzie Jerdon