Alright Doug, I’ve put something together for your tattoo that I like a lot, although it may be more complicated than you originally intended. Plus it’s kind of interpretive of your original idea: the infinity symbol. (Also, I have higher resolution versions of these, should you need it for printing. Same goes for yours, Bret). Ideal placement would be on the upper right arm, which I think where you said you wanted it.

Alright, so this one takes very heavily from the Tarot, because, well, I think it’s cool. Anyway, in the major arcana of the Rider-Waite deck, the Magician (image, description, another) has the infinity sign over his head, which I also found out is sometimes called the lemniscate.

Then we have the two figures, male and female, who come from the Lovers card of the Rider-Waite deck. Here’s the original image. Along with a basic description of it. And this is another fantastic description, which I think you’ll really dig.

I have a couple reasons for why I chose to pull the Lovers card into your design:

(1) The idea of representing the play of duality within the idea of the infinity symbol, without referencing at all the yin-yang symbol, which is the overtly obvious way to pull in that concept. Another way I think may be good for you to look at this, is these are the two figures/forces which make up the cosmic dance-partners of infinity.

(2) This card is frequently associated with Gemini, the twins (Doug’s sign - for those new to the scene). Here is an excellent resource explaining the connection between the Lovers and Gemini. [Kind of a secondary joke correlation to this, is that you jokingly mentioned 69 as being a symbol of infinity]

(3) You’ve always seemed to me to be a person very much driven by, seeking, and exuding this ideal cosmic Love. I also relate the figures on some level to your parents, and to your own ever-more-evident wanting to be a father.

I gave the Lovers wings because I think thats a great part of what the idea of love does, gives you wings. Also, the wings help carve out the echo of a bigger abstract infinity symbol, which is completed by the coiled snakes.

The coiled snakes I took from the caduceus symbol, which was the magical staff of Hermes (or Mercury - who rules Gemini), which you’ll also see used in medical symbolism, which I think works here too, as a reference to the healing force of Love.

Also, the snakes reference the Ouroboros, or the encircling world serpent of many mythologies. Plus, the snake is involved in the symbolism of the Lover card, you’ll see it in the tree to the left of the woman. Snakes are also further associated with infinity and immortality because they shed their skin, and seem to be reborn.

Originally, I actually had strands of DNA where the snakes are right now. Representing the transmission of knowledge through time, and representing eternal continuity, immortality, and so forth. It was actually a reference to a book I like, Angel Tech. In it (although I can’t find the quote), he says something about how the sub-atomic quantum mysteries of the universe are expressed through the DNA molecule. And that the mystery expressed through DNA is “Infinity!” DNA then expresses that mystery through the creation of a human body. The concept of infinity is expressed by the body as the survival & reproduction instincts - the drive for immortality, and the eternal transmission of the mysteries of the universe through “the greatest mystery of all” (according to the book): sex. Ultimately, I decided the actual DNA diagrams were too technical and not mystical-looking enough, so I replaced them with the snakes, which I like better, because they then get the dual meaning of the DNA stuff.

Okay, yeah, so that’s pretty much the gist of it. I hope you like it. It took me a lot longer to work out the symbols that your’s needed to have than Bret’s, but now that I have it, and I see it, this design just makes so much sense to me. Anyway, cheers.