Another day went by, she eagerly waited for the low tide so that once again a day could be spent on the open waters of the Pacific Ocean.  Melanie Luaiga spent several hours every day in her uncle’s yacht.  She studied many hours, read multiple books and expressed herself by making acrylic paintings of nature.  Melanie, now in the 12th grade, excelled in reading, writing, and the arts.  She wasn’t a big fan of math; however, she completed all her assignments and was an above-average student. Recently she won first place in the annual literary fair.  Melanie has been doing online education since the 2nd grade and did all her academic work on her uncle’s yacht where she would tune out the rest of the world and enjoyed being with nature, so she could focus.     
Her parents decided to have her try homeschooling after a terrible incident where Melanie was bullied. A few years ago, when Melanie was in the 2nd grade her friend and neighbor Ally Aae saved her from a classmate named Ryan Flatus, who brought Melanie to tears by calling her names and making fun of the way she walked.  Melanie was born with a limp because one leg was shorter than the other. She vowed never to return to school as she didn’t want to be bullied anymore.  Her parents wanted to try homeschooling.  She was enrolled in the Hawaii County Homeschooling shortly after being bullied.  Melanie completed the second grade online that year and every year since she has excelled in each one of her classes. Ally didn’t have many friends either, but Melanie and she both enjoyed each other's company.  They would get together many times a week and catch a late-night movie in the city center.  Ever since the 2nd grade, they have been friends for life.    
One early morning, Melanie headed off to her Uncles Yacht like she did every day.  On her way to there, the dogs in her neighborhood were howling and the birds were excessively chirping as if they were trying to tell Melanie something.  Even though the ocean waters were very calm and bright blue, something seemed a little off that morning and Melanie would soon come to live out her worst nightmare. The beautiful fish and corals were visible from the ocean floor. The beauty of the ocean was so tranquil, Melanie felt at peace whenever she would venture out on the yacht every day.  It was a quiet and peaceful day when suddenly, a siren went off and the sea level drastically rose.  There were 10 to 15 feet waves visibly developing in the near distance and it was heading towards the yacht.  It was a scary sight in the distance as nobody was prepared for what to do next.  Melanie, a very good swimmer, and surfer was thinking of jumping off, but she always remembered her friend Ally’s words saying, “Don’t run away from your fears and confront the challenges head-on”. It was those words that stayed with her and gave her courage whenever she had an obstacle in life.    
Her uncle Luke, captain of the yacht quickly turned it parallel to the waves and gradually started to increase the speed.  The waves came crashing onto the yacht and almost overturned it twice.  It was about five minutes of repeated waves that felt like an eternity.  The cabin inside was already filling with water. Boats nearby were overturned, just as quickly as it came, the waves suddenly stopped.   
When the thunder of the tsunami occurred, 20 yards away, a young man was floating with his head down in the water. He seemed to be unconscious, lying on a broken piece of the boat.  As an avid swimmer, Melanie jumped into the ocean and attempted to rescue the young man.  She quickly reached and lifted him on to the yacht. Melanie called her Uncle Luke on the phone. “Uncle Luke there is a man that I just rescued on to the boat; He is not breathing! What should I do? Ok quickly, put your hands together one on top of the other in the middle of his chest and start pushing down about two inches until he starts to breathe. And count, one and two and three.... up to thirty.” He told her step by step instructions on how to perform CPR.  She did just as he said and saved the young man’s life.     
As he started to recover and revive, and Melanie had just realized that she saved the life of the one person whom she loathed for her entire life.... he was Ryan Flatus. In utter shock, she was in disbelief that after all these years that she isolated herself because of this one person, who now Mother Nature brought back to her.  Her purpose in life and Ally's words were constantly repeating in her head, “Don’t run away from your fears and confront the challenges head-on.”     
Weeks went by when a tall, young and handsome man came to Melanie’s house and wanted to thank her for saving his life. Ryan brought flowers and chocolates and it just happened to be Valentine's Day. He was so thankful and nice and invited Melanie to be his Valentine at his school dance.  This was the same school that Ally graduated from and she came along to meet her former teachers and relive her old high school memories as well.  Ryan turned out to be such a nice person, it was a shame that Melanie missed out on having such a wonderful person in her life.  They started to see each other more often and even though Ryan didn’t remember that he once bullied her.  Melanie didn’t remind him of it either.  She forgave him and moved onward with her life.  As Melanie spent the next few years getting to know Ryan, they both fell in love with each other and were happily married.