Creating Success from the Inside Out: Develop The Focus and Strategy To Uncover the Life You Want

I.2. MeShelle

I've already mentioned my wife's experience. She grew up in the inner city of Kansas City, Missouri. MeShelle had two older sisters. There was violence in the home, but her parents kept most of their problems out of sight of the kids, especially MeShelle, the baby. MeShelle was an exceptional kid by anyone's standards. Before she was one year old, she would fuss until her mom dressed her up all pretty before her daddy got home. She showed all sorts of talent for music and dance, well before she was in kindergarten. Fortunately, her parents saw her potential and enrolled her in special classes to encourage it.

By the time MeShelle was nine, her parents were separated. She saw her father only on weekends and holidays. He had a separate life, with a separate family. Seeing your father on weekends is better than having a father who abandons you, but all that doesn't matter when you're a kid and you scrape your knee. Mom's there to kiss it, but you want Daddy to, too. By the time you see Daddy the next weekend, it's all healed, and it's just not the same. When you ace a test, telling him over the phone isn't as good as if he was right there.

Her mom Marcy was there to support her daughters. Marcy struggled sometimes working three jobs, but always managed to earn enough to keep her daughters in clothes and food, and the mortgage paid. Eventually she turned to gambling on the nearby riverboats to supplement her meager salary. Sometimes she would earn more on a single night ...