biography The most important moments in a persons life don't consist of the day they themselves were born or the first time they skinned their knee. While minor details are usually the easiest to remember, they usually hold no significance in life's overall outcome. The fact that it was sunny and warm on February 20, 1990 in Charleston had nothing to do with the way Vienna's life would be lived out from that moment on. Minor details. Unimportant information. The events shared with loved ones, the people who left their mark in small or big ways on an individual's heart - those were the moments worth remembering, the ones that could shape and alter the lives of the person they affect.

The smell of clean towels and the feeling of fuzzy slippers too large for her small feet; the sound of laughter and the taste of maple syrup on homemade pancakes - those were easy to remember. The look of happy smiles and the breath stealing hugs were the harder parts to still see and feel. Vie can remember a lot about her mother, while at the same time remember nothing at all. Farrah Hale was all love even up until the day she closed her eyes for the final time. Growing up without a father never felt like some missing puzzle piece. The duo shared enough love between them that the lack of a husband and dad was the easy part. To this day Vie isn't entirely sure why Clarke divorced her mother the year she was born. Maybe the man didn't want a family, or maybe he did but just couldn't give Farrah the type she'd always envisioned. That was okay. Growing up and never meeting the man who was responsible for half your gene pool was easy to not care about.

"Count your blessings and be thankful we've been allowed to have had this much time together," were repetitive words Farrah told her daughter day in and day out for the last two years of her life. When had she gotten sick? When did the signs first start showing up? Vienna can remember her mothers tired eyes and restless face but she couldn't pinpoint when it had first begun. How long had she been keeping it a secret? There was so much to question and ponder when she was forced to sit around that dreary hospital while her mother received her chemo. A thick skin was formed during those years. Friends were lost touch with and her boyfriend came around less and less to check in on her while she spent hours staring out her mothers room window. It was hard to be in the same setting as death, to stare it in the face and watch it slowly eat at a person. A person you loved. A mother whose hair had fallen out completely and who was embarrassed by her appearance. It nearly drove Vie into insanity, going to the closest salon and cutting off her own long locks to make into a short wig for her mother. It was one of the most selfless acts she'd ever done and it still didn't feel like enough.

Faith and God were lost somewhere in between the bad news that Farrah was doing worse and that she only had a year at max left to live. Vienna can remember watching her mother sleep in the hospital bed but can't remember what it felt like to lay beside her and feel her breath fan over her face as she breathed. Vie can remember her grandparents coming to the hospital and arguing over what they'd do with their granddaughter after Farrah passed.

On October 12, 2009, Farrah passed away in her sleep. It was cold outside and the moon shone bright above the fall trees. Vienna can't remember the feeling of her mother's warm hands running through her hair, but she can remember the cold lifeless position they were placed in when she touched them for the last time. She can remember that her mother's hands were gentle, but she can't remember their touch. There's a lot she remembers, but she has forgotten the same amount.

On February 20, 1990, Vienna Rose Hale was born. On October 12, 2009, half of Vienna died. On February 20, 2011, Vienna blew out twenty-one candles and vowed to live her life again and to stop mourning her loss by holding herself back. She now counts her blessings and thanks God daily for the time she was allowed with her mother.