Tattoo Tuesday: Victoria Ruzzo
Doris Huang | Staff Photographer
Victoria Ruzzo remembers her great grandmother as a role model for her family. As Ruzzo found new spirituality, the rose became a symbol for her great grandmother.
Although Victoria Ruzzo only knew her great grandmother for a short amount of time, the rose tattooed on her left shoulder symbolizes the influence she had on Ruzzo’s life, before and after her death.
“She was a great woman and like a rose, very soft and gentle, but also a very firm woman,” said Ruzzo, a senior education major. “She was a great role model for all of the women in my family.”
Ruzzo’s great grandmother passed away at the age of 93 when she was in sixth grade.
The tattoo, which she got in September, is also representative of her newfound spirituality. As her spirituality grew, she decided to ask for signs from her great grandmother.
“Everyone can have signs from loved ones. You just associate certain things with certain people,” Ruzzo said.
Ruzzo recalled moments when she realized the true significance of the rose. After her family moved out of their house, Ruzzo found a white satin box with roses on it. It was her great grandmother’s box, and inside was a hand mirror with roses on the back of it.
Years after her death, Ruzzo decided to read her great grandmother’s obituary for the first time. In the obituary, it said her great grandmother loved to plant roses in her garden.
“I didn’t know it was something she had happened to love,” Ruzzo said.
Another surreal moment, Ruzzo said, occurred with one of her best friends from home, who is a medium. In the morning after a sleepover, her friend told Ruzzo that she saw her great grandmother placing roses around her as she slept.
“I literally asked a spirit for a rose as a sign from my great grandma,” Ruzzo said. “And then, all the signs showed up. All the while I was sort of coming into my spirituality, so that sort of made me decide on the rose as being the most significant.”
The rose tattoo has provided Ruzzo with comfort, peace and happiness.
“It was something so simple,” Ruzzo said. “It was just a rose, but at the same time, it’s sort of the reason why I’ve become more spiritual and aware of myself.”
Published on November 18, 2014 at 12:01 am
Contact Gigi: gantonel@syr.edu
