Watercolour-style tattoo on the upper arm showing a teal and pink heart inside a pink and teal circle, with a dandelion, two small birds and the script words The struggle is part of the journey.

Heart, dandelion and quote on upper arm

Lettering · Upper arm · Mixed · Photo

The tattoo shows a teal and pink heart at the centre of a loose circle of pink and turquoise wash, with a dandelion seedhead and two small birds above. The script lettering reads The struggle is part of the journey, arcing around the circle in black ink. The soft, blended colour and open outlines give it a watercolour look, and the design sits centrally on the upper arm against a plain skin background.

Lettering Upper arm Heart Dandelion Bird Circle Script text Quote Watercolour

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Nell, the rain has been coming sideways across the market since seven, and I've had to shelter the jam jars under a tarpaulin that smells of diesel. Still, the lad from the bakery brought me a bag of bruised pears for nothing, so I'm not complaining much.

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You'll remember old Mrs Pryce, who sold dandelion clocks in a jug by the north gate. She stopped coming in March. Yesterday her grandson turned up with a cardboard box of her things and asked if I'd take the wind chimes. Under them was a tin of watercolours, the cakes gone hard and cracked, and a notebook where she'd painted the same circle again and again, pink then turquoise, with a little heart in the middle.

On the last page was a line in pencil: the struggle is part of the journey. I laughed out loud at first, because it sounded like a birthday card. Then I thought of her standing at that gate every Saturday for twenty years, blowing seeds off into the wet just to see where they landed, and I didn't laugh again.

I've put the tin on the shelf above the till. Two sparrows came in out of the weather this morning and sat on the rim of the empty jug as if they were waiting for their change. I gave them a crust. I'm posting you the page with the circle on it, so keep it dry. Love, Dot.