My mother has got to be one of the strongest women I know. When I was 10yrs old my father and her divorced, She had fallen in love with another man. Much to her surprise this man was not the person she thought he was. After a few years of living with him, she had started to find other women's telephone numbers in his pockets, she would confront him, and he would lie. ( You can't prove it ). That was just the beggining. Around this same time, he started drinking alcohol every weekend, at first he would be really happy, then for no reason he would get really angry, sometimes violent. You never knew if something you said was going to make him angry or not. It was like living in a prison. Then Monday would come, and he would be sober, pretending as if nothing happened. And my mother and I were just supposed to forgive him for what he had done and pretend that everything is alright. The week would go by again, and when Friday came, we knew what was coming. I recall a weekend that I had went to bed, and hours later I would awaken to fighting. That time my mother came in my room with me and we locked the door and sat there listening to him yell at us for nothing. Finally he would fall asleep. Now it was safe to come out and do what we want. After every weekend he would apologize to us and everything would be great.But we always knew that it would happen again. He was the most verbally abusive person I had ever met. He fooled my mother and I with his lies, " I can change ", " It will be different ". It was amazing how nice he was when he wasn't drunk! She stuck by this man through thick and thin for 8 years. Then she finally had enough of it and broke up with him. It must have been the hardest thing she ever had to do. A few months after that, he tried to get my mom to be with him again, he said that he realized that he messed up, and that it would be different this time. Well a few months later, my mom would learn that he had gotten another woman pregnant. That was it for my mother. He was out of her life for good. Now it had been 3 years since the break up. She was having a really hard time getting over everything that happened over those 8 years, and the fact that she still loved this man. About 1 or 2 years after they broke up, she found out that she had a degenerative disc disease in her back, and that she will end up in a wheel chair one day, also she could never work again. This was the most devastating news she had ever gotten. Soon after that, I noticed a big change in her personality. She has always been a really happy go lucky person, but not anymore. She would sit in her bedroom for 2 to 3 days at a time crying. She wouldn't talk to me about what she was feeling, but I knew that something was really wrong. She wouldn't go anywhere, or speak to anyone. She was also very moody. Soon after all that happened she found out that she had Manic Deppresion. This illness had no rhyme nor reason. There was no certain event that would make her happy or sad, it just happened when it happened. Her life was a living hell. It is hard when you really love someone, and you can't do a thing to help them. Now 1 year later she is doing great, she goes places, talks to her friends, she excersices every day, and she is on a diet. I am so proud of her right now, she is so strong. It is a struggle for her everyday, but she handles it so well. *Mom, I am so proud of you for everything you have overcome in your life. You are the strongest person I know. Thank you for being the inspiration in my life.* I love you.