Host: In 2014, Donna Salemink was solo parenting her two teenagers in Colorado… often struggling to make ends meet

Donna came to StoryCorps with her daughter Melissa to remember a split second that altered their lives forever… when one afternoon a thunderstorm rolled in… 

Melissa Salemink (MS) and Donna Salemink (DS)

DS: I ran out to smoke really quickly. I took a drag and then just… boom. 

MS: I remember that. You barreled into my room, screaming, ‘I think I was hit by lightning.’

DS: The smoke detectors were going off and the dogs were freaked out. 

MS: You were so off that you didn’t know what to do.

DS: But I remember asking you, ‘Can you just look at my body?’ My dress wasn’t burnt, but I had all these little, tiny burns.

I couldn’t cope or talk to people. And I was just extremely spacey after that.

MS: Yeah. You stuttered a lot, and you were having a hard time collecting yourself and putting it into words…

DS: Yeah… I remember curling up and crying in your lap a lot that summer. And I feel grateful that you’re in my life… especially during that time because I was a terrible mom.

I was monetarily broke; I didn’t know what to do. Now I’m hit by lightning and I’m even less capable. I, uh, just got to a place in my life where I was tired of carrying the weight.

MS: Yeah. I feel like you needed a lot of space to rebuild yourself and it was tricky.

DS: Mhmm.

MS: I feel like you were very neglectful, and I moved out before I graduated high school. And my brother… he needed a parent, and he didn’t have that. And I filled in that role. 

And I was just too young.

DS: I’m glad that you can talk to me openly about it. I’m sorry.

MS: You, these past few years, have really been making this massive effort to be a parent again. And… I appreciate that.

DS: I knew I needed to commit and be present for you guys. I just went, ‘Whatever it takes.’ 

MS: I was going to school and you were helping with finances. I moved back in here for a little bit. You know, after not spending more than a few days together in the past years, now it’s a lot of these very normal things, like, ‘Hey, I just want to take you out for a bite to eat.’ And it’s like yeah, that’s what a mom does.

DS: I love doing those things for you. 

MS: Yeah.

DS: You know, I’m still not whole. I’m just walking around doing the best I can like everyone is. And the best I can do is let you know that you are a top priority in my life.

And the only way that I can show you that is to keep showing you it.