Dear Reader:

We all know that life counterbalances between contentment, peace, serenity… and adversity …appearing, unexpectedly in a diversity of unsettling forms.

When I woke up Tuesday morning and walked out to my garden I was met with this scene!

My Confederate Rose had literally fallen during the night-perhaps a reenactment of the Legendary Confederate soldier being shot? I think not… all the other stems were dry and brittle-so I pulled them out and lugged them to the front for disposal.

Since the stem was still alive with the blooms on it, I added more potting soil/ water and placed it back in the hole …letting it prop against the garage wall temporarily. It was then I saw the title picture-new blossoms were forming on a separate small stem-Hope survived. The Confederate Rose had not given up.

In 2020 Brene Brown returned to her alma mater ( University of Texas) to share her thoughts on never giving up. Five Key Words comprised her advice to the Covid-19 class of 2020.

GET BACK UP. BEGIN AGAIN.

” To get back up from a fall, to get back up from a setback, to get back up from what we’re in right now, you have to acknowledge you’re down, that you’ve fallen, failed, made a mistake.

You have to be brave enough to acknowledge that you’re hurting, that you’re sad, disappointed, grieving, feeling shame; whatever feeling you’re in, you have to own it. We cannot begin again, when we’re dragging unspoken and unexplored emotions behind us. We have to be brave and curious and to dig into the feelings of a fall.”

After starting the day with this plant ” fall” … I was praying that things would improve when the heating/ air mechanic checked my unit-hoping he could just replace a part. Unfortunately the unit was so old there were no parts still in existence to replace the two needed- but still determined …my mechanic told me he was going to try the parts ” cemetery” and was gone for hours looking. All to no avail.

But then things began turning around-the unbelievable price he gave me for the installation and new unit was so much lower than I dared hoped for…I could cover it without a costly loan-it was almost exactly the amount I had saved for a ” rainy” day-instead it would be used for ” chilly” days followed seasonally by hot ones! Hope, once again, had come through and a guardian angel of a mechanic who went the extra mile for me.

So until tomorrow… falls teach us much more about ourselves than any achievements ever will. During trying times… dig down… you just might discover buds waiting to bloom again!

” Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh