Positive Thinker - Eternal Optimist

Melissa Phillips                                                                        

Giovanna Airheart

EDUC 1300

9 October 2013

Positive thinker: Eternal Optimist

My name is Melissa Phillips and I am a survivor on an exciting yet difficult journey. Two and a half years ago, my life was turned upside down and I began the struggle that has forged the new, strong, and passionate woman that I am today.

I am a peaceful woman and I always have been. This is a value that I learned from my mother who taught me to put others before myself. I spent many years, with my husband, being squashed verbally and emotionally; mixed in with years of love and dreams that normal couples share. However, in June of 2011, after thirteen years in this turbulent relationship, life very quickly changed. Harsh words had changed into physical abuse and I had to make a decision. Do I stay and pray that he would change or do I take our four small children and run? I ran!

My children give me strength and they are my motivation for every goal that I have created for my future.  One month after I left him, my husband took my children. I had to fight him in court to see or to even speak to them. Eight months after that, he died of cancer.

I am a widow. Now faced with the task of being the sole parent four children under the age of eight. I am going to raise them to be peaceful, loving, and gently adults. We dream together about going to Paris and to the North Pole to see Santa. I’m hoping that they will grow out of that one, but Paris will be fun. I dream that, when my children are teenagers, we can take that trip to France. To do that, I have made a goal of having a successful career that I enjoy and that will ensure my financial stability.