You only fail when you quit trying.....

See this star fruit tree? It's Jan. 2, 2021.. Back in the summer we had a hurricane come through here, northeast of us with the eye only 40 miles away. The winds blew off all the fruit that had set, as well as all the oranges and tangelos on the trees in our back yard...

But then, the star fruit put out MORE flowers and created more star fruit... The orange and tangelo trees did not. Where I normally have at least three bushels of citrus from them, I got less than a dozen.

The star fruit has survived two cold snaps, holding onto the fruits even with dying leaves... not sure if the fruits will stay long enough to ripen but you really have to give it credit for trying!!

The point of this post is not horticultural but a reminder that you only fail when you quit trying.... that means in everything.. Sure, 2020 was a year we would all like to forget... but we are still here... we may have lost our businesses and our jobs and our money... but WE ARE STILL HERE!

It's not been a year I want to much remember. I have not seen my husband who is in a veterans' home, some 4 hours away, since Thanksgiving 2019. After I broke my leg in December 2019, I was in hospital and rehab for many weeks. By the time, the surgeon would let me drive that far, covid-19 had shut everyone down. No in-visits to patients, and rest areas and fast food and gas stations were marginal. Thankfully, with my husband's Alzheimer's his sense of time is skewed. My cards and little gifts give him something to enjoy...

Then in July I tripped and got a "sports injury" to my shoulder (I tell everyone it was Women's Roller Derby). Twelve weeks of rehab for that... seriously my broken leg was easier to deal with than my broken humerus... and things have not changed much... Didn't see my husband for Thanksgiving, our 39th anniversary or Christmas.... But I keep on hoping and trying....

Yes, I've been depressed... and sad... and angry... But I AM STILL HERE!! And still trying...

You say you've lost members or customers for your business? I know I have... we have all had hard times but now is not the time to look back, but forward. Take a new direction... change up your advertising... re-focus... renew... but never stop trying....

Be like that star fruit tree....