She did not stop.

She continued to run her flower shop, continued to invent, continued to file patent applications for other ideas.

But the sanitary belt patent sat without a manufacturing partner for eighteen years after the original rejection.

Eighteen years.

The specific weight of that number is difficult to fully convey.

Eighteen years is long enough for a child to be born and graduate from high school.

It is long enough for a business to open, succeed, and close.