My mother planted a lemon tree in our tiny backyard when I was eight. It grew crooked, produced only a few terrible lemons each year, and I always thought it was pointless. While I wanted it removed, my mother cared for it every spring and reminded me, \u201cNot everything has to be perfect to be worth keeping.\u201d<\/p>\n
When my mother suddenly passed away from a heart attack at 34, I inherited the apartment. One of my first plans was to cut down the old lemon tree, and I even scheduled its removal.<\/p>\n
The night before it was supposed to be removed, I went outside for one last look. There, hidden low on the trunk, I found words my mother had carved years ago and that the tree had nearly grown over: \u201cFor my daughter. Grow however you need to.\u201d<\/p>\n
I immediately canceled the removal. Today, the tree is still crooked and still gives only six bitter lemons a year. Every spring, I use them to make lemonade and remember my mother\u2019s lesson. When my children complain, I tell them, \u201cNot everything has to be perfect to be worth keeping,\u201d and their eye-rolls remind me that the lesson is living on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My mother planted a lemon tree in our tiny backyard when I was eight. It grew crooked, produced only a few terrible lemons each year, and I… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11424,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-story"],"yoast_head":"\n