Teenager has his late dad’s laugh inked on to his arm as soundwave tattoo

A teenager has honoured his late father by getting a tattoo which represents his laugh inked on to his arm.

A picture of the soundwave tattoo went viral after Andrew Soldan, 18, shared it on Reddit.

“It’s a visual reminder of my dad. His laugh is really contagious, very funny and (he was) a great person to be around, he would always put a smile on other people’s faces,” Andrew from Macomb, Michigan, told the Press Association.

He said: “My Uncle Tommy is the one who got the soundwave in the first place, we were going to print it out and hang it but instead I had the idea of getting the tattoo.”

It was Andrew’s first tattoo and it took the artist about 30 minutes to complete. Unlike some soundwave tattoos, this one cannot be “read” by a smartphone app, but gives Andrew a permanent reminder of his father.

The high school senior posted a picture on Reddit where it was upvoted thousands of times and landed on the site’s coveted homepage. The picture was captioned: “For my 18th birthday I got a tattoo of my dad’s laugh on my arm, he passed 3 years ago. I have his smile and joy wherever I go now.”

“I’m very happy I went through with it, and being on the front page is very overwhelming. I’ve been getting a lot of messages and comments asking how I did it and that people would like to get a tattoo like mine.”

Among those who replied to Andrew’s post was Pim Bouwman a 19-year-old from the Netherlands.

Pim’s father Marius, a teacher, died three-and-a-half years ago when Pim was 15.

“From the moment he died I knew I wanted a tattoo as a tribute to him. I am most definitely not a tattoo fan though,” he told the Press Association.

Pim hopes to become a teacher like his dad but says this will be his “first and last tattoo.”