“I have seafoam in my veins, I understand the language of waves.”

Tattoo by Coral Condy owner of The Eleventh Hour Tattoo Co., Lake Worth, FL August, 2022

I want to start with this, I never planned to tattoo my whole neck. I always worried about what people would say, the bullying I’ve experienced both personally and professionally and that it would be viewed as unprofessional. I ultimately decided I would do it if I found the right artists for when we were on vacation and the universe responded!

Coral was incredibly kind, direct, and with very little direction (it’s what I do now lol) designed a truly beautiful set of tattoos to finish my neck. From the moment I met Coral she was this bright light of warmth and acceptance and was wonderful at admitting when she made mistakes with my pronouns and very accommodating of my disability. She was so easy to talk to and such an enjoyable person to be around. She reminded me of this quote, “The heart of man is very much like the sea, it has its storms, it has its tides and in its depths it has its pearls too” - Vincent Van Gogh

As a non-binary person, seeing my whole neck tattooed is so euphoric and gender affirming. I never realized how much I needed this beautiful brightly colored sea garden on my throat.

What Coral didn’t know was my the 8th Anniversary of my Uncles death by suicide was the day after and he always went to the beach with us as kids. He taught me how to fish, helped me collect seaweed, and find coral and sea flora. It was my mom’s favorite thing to see us running down to the beach with him, little plastic buckets in hand and screaming in excitement when we found a little piece of coral. Now when I look at my neck I see all the thing that remind me of my mom and my uncle and the grief feels a little less heavy, a little less painful, a little less like a burden and more like a gift.

Thank you Coral, you gave me so many gifts when we met, there are no words.