W O R D TO T H E MOT H E R - ME LIS SA HULL COVER STORY
By Angel A. Wellington
WORD TO THE MOTHER
Today, Melissa Hull seems to occupy the apex most entrepreneur’s strive to reach. On the day we met, our conversation was squeezed in between her last speaking engagement and the need to hurriedly pack for another flight to some far away land where she’d repeat her unfortunate story that has turned into fortune; serendipity, treasure, destiny. Having enjoyed a career as an accomplished artist, professional writer, and international speaker, add to that: the television show she hosts, television network she founded, and the business of bringing others’ stories to the light of day. At the pinnacle of success, her profile is impressive and her resume reads like the kind you embellish to land that dream job. Another day ended like a nightmare. There were no books in her library to inform her next moves. How could she ever move forward? She had taken no class to prepare her, heard no alarm to warn her, seen not one sign that such a normal afternoon could destroy countless others. Before the funeral she was numb and 17 ENTREPRENEUR PLATFORM MAGAZINE
dumb, though expected to find words in response to failed attempts of comfort. It was all so uncomfortable. Viewing his tiny frame, selecting appropriate attire, choosing a box for burying the boy who brought her such joy were torturous tasks. No mother should have to do it, but for Drew’s mom, Melissa, this assumed end marked the beginning of another life. Before finding purpose in pain, Melissa suffered long and hard. Nights and days conflated, as she struggled to find reason to rise with morning. With part of her heart away, she found it nearly impossible to be present for her other small son or attentive to the husband who, too, was sparring with his new reality. But none of it seemed real, so how could she make sense of the accident she could see cracking her family open? A deep thinker, naturally, Melissa replayed every moment leading to the discovery of her son’s body. Rewinding was getting her stuck, rote memory was dragging her deeper into an abyss from which she was unlikely to emerge. Drew’s drowning
