Melody Fisher:
CLASS OF 1974
Joliet East High SchoolClass of 1974
Joliet, IL
Melody's Story
Like most of you, I was born in Joliet, and I felt like I spent the first 30 years yearning to get out.
I longed for the mountians and the forests and a different way of life.
My parents moved to Phoenix in the late 70s .
I had two small children and we had just built a house. If you remember in the late 70s-80s , Joliet was pretty much in a recession/depression. I tried to sell my house for 8 years.
Finally in 1985 the house sold. We moved out to stay at my parents while we decided where we wanted to live. We knew it wasnt going to be in the big city. To many people, crowded and yes, it is Phoenix, HOT.
Every weekend we would get out a map and look over the state. We would make these treks around checking out the different areas what they had to offer, how would life unfold if we lived there.
We made a choice and my husband sent out job applications.
Within two weeks he had a good job offer and we moved up into the mountains. Rented for 4 months while we searched for our perfect home.
We have been in our home since July 1987. We bought an totally unfinished house with the best view in town and have spent the years making it ours.
We had two sons and I homeschooled them from K-12 then they went on to Jr. college and other things. Both still live close by.
We adopted our daughters. One grown and living in Long Beach. Her two children now serving in the air force. And the other now in her 20s and our little adventure of our middle years. She has autism. This has been both the biggest trial in life and sometimes the most amazing blessing. She finished High School, then went on to get her Associates degree. She works full time as an aid in the school for children with autism, which she used to attend as a student! . She is happy and has become very high functioning with lots of therapy,special schools and very wonderful people in our lives who also love her.
Along the years I have found my true calling. Even before we moved from the Joliet area, I began getting involved in natural birth and helping friends in having their babies( now this is called being a doula). After moving to Arizona, I met a midwife and soon began working with her and working towards gett...Expand for more
ing my license. Since 1992 I have spent my years helping women through their pregnancy, birth and recovery time. I mostly attend homebirths but sometimes attend women wishing or needing a hospital birth. At this point I have attended over 800 women .
I was in a very busy practice for 11 years and we would attend between 5 and 15 women a month . I wanted a change so in 2003 I left that practice and began one of my own. I try to only take one woman a month so I can give her all the care and attention she needs in her last weeks , during and following her birth.
I look at what I do as more than a career, I feel I have a sort of ministry to women seeking healing, seeking care they feel they may have missed in previous birth experiences. help them find a voice and make try to empower them so their experience is a positive one. I try to individualize my care to each woman's need. In the process, I feel like I have made life long friends. We frequently have picnics and I have open houses at my home where they bring back their children to visit and reconnect. Since 2007 I have mentored and preceptored a student midwife who recently got her licensing and certifications and will take over when I chose to retire.
My other passion in life is quilting. I must have 4 or more going at all times. I have made one for all of my nieces and nephews, my close friends and their grandchildren quilts when they are expecting a new baby.
I also made a special quilt for the the baby at my 100th birth , and again at the 500th. Since I have slowed down I am back to doing them every 100 births, .
My long suffering husband who moved to Az. Even though he loved the big city life and left behind all of his family has adjusted well. He has risen to the top of his field and is well respected by employers and other companies in the construction field and city/county officials.He also became an assistant Basketball Coach for a local High School team.
In his spare time he does the many projects I think up to get our house finished the way I always knew it would be.
We continue to visit the Joliet area to attend weddings and funerals, as we both still have a lot of family in the area.
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