A few years ago, I got my first tattoo. It’s a semicolon, symbolizing that having bipolar disorder and depression do not mean my life is over. My last self-harm episode was a pause in my life, not an ending. I’ve wanted for a while now to add to it, and my wedding anniversary weekend with Jessica was the perfect time to do it. Now that it’s done, I want to show it off and tell you what the additions mean.
Above my semicolon is my wife’s name, Jessica, in Hebrew. We are not Jewish, but her name is Hebrew in origin. It’s a Biblical name; Iscah, which means “rich” or “God beholds,” was the niece of Abraham in the Old Testament. The name was later anglicized by Shakespeare for his character Jessica in The Merchant of Venice. I wanted my wife’s name placed above my semicolon to symbolize that I, as her husband, live for her and put her needs before my own.
The second addition to my arm is my daughter’s name, Namine (pronounced Nah-mee-nay), in katakana. Katakana is a Japanese syllabary, a form of writing where the characters represent syllables rather than meanings. Namine’s name, which means “born from the ocean waves,” originates from the video game Kingdom Hearts, and is actually Japanese and French. (Nami is Japanese, while ne is French.) I had it placed to the right of my semicolon because she was born after my last self-harm episode. Not only is my story not over; my story is not only my own, but a part of my two loves’.
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