My older sister Chanell is probably one of the most intelligent beings I’ve ever met. Her smarts come natural. In school, she never had to study hard, or study at all. She was an inspiration to not only me and our two younger siblings, but our parents as well. They never finished college. They completed a year and some change at a community college, but failed to follow through. Chanell’s gifted intellect and drive to be better and achieve more motivated us all.
She received a full ride scholarship to Pepperdine University, a private and very elite institution in California. I guess you could say all our hopes were dependent on her. If she could do it, come from nothing, work hard, and make something of herself, then I could possibly do it too. So we were all excited and we just knew many of great things were to come of her.
Unfortunately, her sophomore year in college, she was ‘kicked out’. She tried to commit suicide. Seeing as Pepperdine is a private, Christian university, allowing her to stay would have sent the wrong message to other or future students. That was the administrations justification. Shortly after the incident, Chanell’s life started to spiral out of control. She started dating all the wrong men, and ended up marrying one of them- a former cocaine addict with little education and unable to hold down a job.
She’s still married to him and has two beautiful children. She works as accountant putting in 60-70 hours a week seeing as she is the sole provider of her small family. With everything that has happened in her life, all the big hopes we had for her and the major upsets that followed, I can honestly say I have never been more proud. The previous statement may sound odd to some, but it’s true. I admire her spirit more than anything. Her dedication to preserver and keep going, to continue to strive for better even with hellacious curve balls life has thrown at her. If she accomplished nothing else more today, she would still be my role model.
