More than a third of 18- to 40-year-olds in the United States have a tattoo, a Pew Research Center survey found last year. CNN.com asked readers to submit photos of their tattoos and tell us the stories behind them.
Melanie Trusty of Okemos, Michigan, got her first tattoo in March 2007. Trusty said she wanted to get a tattoo when she started college, but it took until her junior year to "think of something I really wanted and would like forever." Her tattoo features a butterfly, which represents her grandmother, and a clematis flower with vines surrounding the word "bella," Italian for "beautiful."
"I have a beautiful life and a beautiful character, because of my grandma's love," she said. 
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