At the age of seven one of my favorite things to do was play with my Barbie dolls. I had every single Barbie set up that was imaginable, the Barbie mansion, corvette, hair salon, the café, and the grocery store. Of course Barbie was not complete without all of her fancy clothes and accessories, and my mom made sure I understood how important it was for Barbie to have all of her pretty things along with Ken, the “perfect man”. Barbie land was my reality as a child, and I felt encouraged to believe that Barbie had the ideal life, as did many little girls growing up in my generation. Barbie had the perfect body, perfect house, and the perfect man; this was my vision of success.
During high school when most of my friends were concerned with makeup, clothes, and boys I spent most of my time skiing on the mountain, and perusing my dream of becoming a professional skier. Going to college like everyone else and having an ideal career wasn’t appealing to me, so I began to focus on my passion of skiing. By the age of sixteen I was sponsored and was able to travel around the US competing in ski competitions and exploring the backcountry of some amazing mountains, it was my dream come true. This path I had chosen didn't impress my mom, because she had created and so badly wanted me to live out the Barbie dream that she never had.
When I was 15 years old my mom and dad went through pretty nasty divorce, which involved our family losing everything due to my father’s bad gambling addiction. We lost our house, both my sister’s college funds and our family savings. I remember my mom telling me how I shouldn't make the same mistakes she did, and that you can never change a person. My mom told me that I should be independent make my own money and never rely on a man. My mom had hope that her daughters would learn from her mistakes she made during marriage. The experience that I went through with my parents divorce is something I will never forget and I feel that it has...