Barbara C. Parker jokingly refers to herself as the High Priestess of Rule Followers. She invested the entirety of her youth in a relentless struggle to do the right thing. She thought this would be enough to guarantee a good life and marital happiness. She was wrong.

Parker was the only child of a single, divorced mother. Far too early she learned the lessons of poverty, pain and hard work. As a young girl, she was recognized for her generosity of spirit, her creative writing abilities and for her durable sense of humor. Determined to create a better life for herself, she worked full time while pursuing two degrees simultaneously at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. She graduated in 1982 with a Bachelor of Science in psychology and a Bachelor of Arts in English. She married at age 22 and worked to help support her new husband while he attended SMU Law School. Three years later, she returned to college, completing her Masters of Business Administration from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas.

Graduate degrees in hand and hearts filled with hope and ambition, the young couple took flight to build a life in paradise - The island of Oahu in Hawaii. Ms. Parker initially pursued a career in banking and subsequently served as operations manager of a major real estate development firm.

Ms. Parker continued to support her husband while he searched for employment in Hawaii. Eventually, he built his solo legal practice and quickly became a big fish in Hawaii’s small legal pond, establishing a well known persona built on a foundation of successive legal victories and charismatic bravado. They were a well known, successful, attractive couple who appeared to have everything: two Jaguars, a luxury condominium, expensive vacations, a lavish lifestyle, a substantial income and painted on smiles. All was well in Paradise.

Then, unexpectedly, after thirteen years of what she thought was a happy marriage, her newly successful husband walked into their bedroom and lowered a bombshell which would end life as she knew it. Ms. Parker tells it like this:

He lifted both muscular arms and well manicured hands into the air, contorting his recently well contoured body into the shape of a ‘Y’.

‘I don’t love you anymore!’ he shouted.

‘I don’t love you anymore,” he repeated softly, compassionately, collecting himself, with arms flopping down to his sides as if he had just relieved himself from the weight of the world.”

That day was Saturday, June 3, 1995. It’s the day Ms. Parker describes as the day she died from shock, resulting from the surgical removal of an appendage without anesthesia. It was a dark day in Paradise. One in which a dream died. Sadly, she had no other dream but this.

In the days and months to come, Ms. Parker would experience the harsh realities of her husband’s infidelity and total abandonment: hunger, depression, homelessness, heartache, public humiliation, fear, desperation and rage. It was in this emotional and economic valley that she discovered the true meaning of life, love and commitment. It was in this utter darkness that she learned to light a candle which she still shines as an invaluable guide and source of hope for others. Her goal is to prevent other women and children from experiencing the same financial and emotional annihilation she and her children suffered.

Barbara C. Parker has gone on to create a new life for herself. She was elected to public office in Texas and currently owns two small businesses in San Francisco. She has discovered that there is life and love after the emotional death of betrayal and divorce. It is a joyous journey through life with both eyes open. It is a life well worth living.