From Plain Peshterianu to Perfection

Adela Peshterianu was having a bad time of it, to say the least. She often recalled early days in her life, when as a daughter of the afluent Vantross clan, her future had been full of promise. Those days of promise seemed to be long behind her now.

Adela met and married Phoenix Peshterianu, a local musician. Her family was not too happy about her choice but Adela was sure she was doing the right thing. They welcomed a son, Bryson, early in their marriage. Little Braeden followed a few years later. Adela loved staying home with her boys and took mothering them very seriously. She loved Phoenix, though admittedly her mind wandered to fantasies of life with other men. Adela refused to act on such impulses, though. She loved her family too much.

One busy day at home with the boys, Adela ran to answer the phone. She was supposed to be taking the boys to the dentist but the dentist had canceled. She assumed the phone call was from the dentist's office, rescheduling, but instead a strange voice was on the other end.

"Hello, who is this?" Adela asked.

"Who am I? Who is this? I'm calling for Phoenix. We met last week in a chat room and he told me I could come over and see him today."

Adela was floored but quickly regained herself. "Oh, this is Phoenix's, uh, housekeeper. Please, come over. I will let you in." Adela hung up the phone and tried to collect her thoughts. Everything felt so...electrified.

Adela sat with little Bryson as he watched his cartoons.

"Honey," she said calmly, "Mommy would like you to go upstairs and play with Braeden. Go grab two popsicles out of the freezer for yourselves."

Bryson did as he was told. Then the doorbell rang.

Adela stepped outside to greet the woman who had called earlier. The sky had ominously darkened with an approaching storm. Clearly, something had changed in Adela's world.

"Hi, I'm Phoenix's housekeeper. He wants you to wait for him by the computer. Here's a floppy disk, which he requested you play until his arrival. I will show you where everything is."

The woman followed Adela into the computer room and started up the computer. Adela felt as if she were outside herself as she handed her the floppy disk...the floppy disk full of a deadly computer virus.

Suddenly the computer, and the mystery woman, were in flames! Adela watched her victim writhe and scream as she burned but felt no sympathy. She went to call the fire department. They came and put out the fire. The woman disappeared from the scene before she could receive medical attention.

Phoenix arrived home and Adela promptly removed him from her life. He left that day and made no attempt at reconciliation.

Fast forward 8 months later. Adela is struggling. Her beloved mother, Lou Anna, died last week. And Adela feels more than a little bit lost. She spends her days going through the trash, looking for any sign that should've pointed her in the right direction earlier in her life. She finds nothing.

Adela spends about 2 hours each day sitting in the truck Phoenix left behind. She never drives it, but she uses it as a place to get away from the noise of her children and the questions that fill her mind.

Bryson is young but he understands something horrible has happened to his mother. He tries to help by answering the phone and arranging a nanny service for himself and his baby brother.

Luckily, Bryson enjoys solitude.

Baby Braeden seems okay with some alone time too.

One day, while outside avoiding the reminders of her husband, Adela glanced in the house and saw Bryson watching tv by himself.

She was horrified. "What kind of mother am I?" Adela wondered. "I have to change my life if my boys are going to have any chance at all."

And from that day on, she changed everything.

First things first - she made lunch for Bryson. He had been subsisting on granola bars and cottage cheese, so the roast beef sandwich Adela made him was a surprise and a vast improvement upon his situation.

"Things are going to be very different, Bry, " Adela explained as they ate, "Mommy isn't going to be sad anymore. Are you ready to be happy?"

Bryson was so ready.

Adela hired a maid to clean up the house. She then set to work de-shambling the disaster known as her front yard.

Bryson happily got in on the action as well.

Next, Adela got a make over. "It's a new me and a new time!" she exclaimed to the hairdresser.

After completing a self-help book, Adela realized she didn't want to settle down. She wanted to date and she wanted to date A LOT. She got started!

Bryson's grades were going up now that Adela was better at helping him with his homework!

A few months later Adela decided to do something else she had always wanted to do - adopt kittens! Phoenix had been allergic so they never had any pets. Things were different now though!

The kittens were so cute and they taught Adela and her boys valuable lessons about love and trust. Life was getting back in order and it was better than ever!

One day Adela looked out her living room window to see Phoenix going through her trash.

"What are you doing?!" she yelled.

Phoenix saw Adela, looking furious and more beautiful and happy than he remembered her. He had no answer to her question.

He ran away. Adela picked up the trash can and didn't let the encounter rest on her shoulders for one minute. After all, she had a date that night.

A date that ended very well!

"Ohhh!" Adela yawned the next morning, "I think my favorite thing about my life is that there are no strings attached!" Luckily, her date didn't hear her. Though he didn't "hear" from Adela again.

Time passed on and the boys grew. Soon, little Braeden wasn't so little anymore!

Adela loved connecting with her boys and being their primary care giver. It empowered her.

The family did everything together.

Bryson was growing into a thriving teenager!

Life was so happy, and so sweet. And so perfect!

Adela was on a date with a new guy when she realized life had truly changed.

"You know," her date observed during dinner, "I've dated so many women in this town. You are by far the most content and vibrant. What is your secret?"

Adela smiled, "I set the past on fire and never looked back."