The pain that comes with losing a child is unmatched. When something this terrible happen, bereaved parents tons of difficult and unexpected emotions, from shock and disbelief, to anger, guilt, and profound sadness.

At the same time, they find unique ways to grieve and pay tribute to the child they lost.

A young mother in Huntsville, Alabama was heartbroken over the loss of her baby. She felt like her entire world collapsed, but she knew she needed to stay strong, as much as something like that was even possible.

Wanting to honor her late child, she decided to get a tattoo with a symbolic meaning and went to a tattoo shop in her town. Unfortunately, her idea of what her tattoo was supposed to look like was met with laughter by the tattoo artists.

Writing on Reddit, she explained how she assumed they laughed at her design because they had no idea what the drawing represented to her. “I suppose because it seemed to them like a “basic white girl” tattoo.”

As she felt deeply hurt, she went to another tattoo shop where she was treated with respect.

The mom shared a photo of the tattoo she got and explained the meaning behind it. It depicted a tree branch on which three birds are perched, and one baby bird can be seen to be flying away. The two adult birds and another smaller bird (presumably her other child) are looking at the baby bird leaving the branch.

The tattoo brought so many emotions at so many people that they couldn’t help but comment under the mom’s story.

“I don’t consider myself very sentimental, but this made me tear up; what a beautiful tattoo,” one Reddit user wrote. “That’s lovely…. Simple. Thoughtful. Well executed. Thank you for sharing. Now I have dust in my eye…,” another added.

We truly hope this mom and her family navigate through this heartbreaking situation.