Stepping Stones

As the youngest child of three, Isabella is lucky enough to have a very happy childhood within her close family. The family live a privileged life due to the fact that their dad works very hard and their mum plays the traditional role of a wife and mother. There are many family fun times, and this just makes Isabella want her dream of becoming a mummy just like her own and living a happy life with her adoring husband all the more. Unfortunately, the dream does not turn out as she expects. Her husband does not adore her, there are more tears than laughter, and when the babies come along, she is not as happy as she dreamt she would be. She needs to get out, not only for her own sanity but for her children's. A long, messy, stressful divorce occurs, and Isabella finds it hard to keep smiling as her children get caught in the mess.

Determined to make things better for herself and to become a role model for her children, Isabella becomes a mature student, enrolling on a nursing course, but yet again, Isabella comes up against a wall as her plans do not work out, and she has to choose another route. Growing in confidence after many years of being put down and made to feel worthless, Isabella enrolls and then graduates with an HNC qualification. Beginning her new career as a childcare practitioner is exciting and a role in which she enjoys immensely, until she notices that her health is failing. A shocking diagnosis knocks her confidence back to square one, and little by little Isabella gets back to the confident, ambitious woman she always dreamt she would be. Stepping stones, each one at a time, is how Isabella manages to keep on going whenever her dreams do not work out the way she wants them to.