15)–more to come……..

Posted on August 7, 2015 by losingemma

If you are new to this blog, you may want to read the posts “In a Nutshell” or go to July 2012 and read “Sending out a Letter.” My daughter Emma Katherine Roey lied about a friend being raped and attempting suicide, claimed to have been molested by a priest, and then, just as her attorneys were about to file a law suit, Emma accused her mother (me) of physically abusing her and later of poisoning her with DDT. Emma claimed to have a toxicology report to confirm that her mother (me, again!) poisoned her, but would never turn over this report to my attorney. If you read through the blog, you will find many other examples of Emma’s lying. At one point, she even complained about the way her dad touched her and that he called her a “bitch” and a “slut” everyday. (I refused to listen to her when she talked about her dad like that.) As long as Emma continues with the lies, I will tell her story. Love and thanks to all of you who read and have written to me. If you have any questions or comments, please contact me at: losingemma@gmail.com Please continue to share the blog with others.

Emma at the William Holland School in 2010. This was a yearly trip we took with my sister for about 7 years. Emma Roey, Emma Kate Roey, Emma Katherine Roey

Emma at the William Holland School in 2009, giving me a dirty look for taking her photo. This was a yearly trip we took with my sister for about 7 years. Emma Roey, Emma Kate Roey, Emma Katherine Roey

Letter’s to Lacey – Post Script & Emma’s Purity Ring

I wanted to share Emma’s letters to “Lacey” to give my readers a better feel for what was going on in Emma’s head at that time. The letters are the writings of a teenage girl and written more like a diary. If you read through the letters, it would have been in Dec. of 2009 when Emma told her dad and I that “Lacey” had been raped and then tried to commit suicide. I won’t repeat the whole story here, but Phill and I had picked Emma up on her birthday, after her youth group. Emma was very upset and told us that “Lacey” had called her from the hospital and was hysterical………. You can go back and read the post where I already wrote about this.

I often wonder why Emma would do that to her “best friend” as she often called “Lacey.” Was it because she had never actually met “Lacey” so it would be easy to make up a story that no one would verify? I just don’t know enough about liars to understand why they do what they do. All kids lie. We all know that. A school counselor told me that lying becomes a problem when the lies hurt people. Then it goes beyond what is normal. Emma was lying and hurting people, most definitely. I don’t know when her lies started going too far, but as much as I love my daughter, I know she has a serious problem.

Lacey’s” parents also sent me some chat messages between Emma and “Lacey.” Most of them were pretty uneventful. In one chat message, after Phill had me thrown out of my home by the sheriff’s department, Emma told “Lacey” she and her dad were planning a rafting trip to TN, and since “Lacey” lived a couple of hours away, in NW Georgia, she asked about meeting up with her. Previously, Emma had tried several times to get “Lacey” to come visit. I had agreed if “Lacey’s” parents would allow her to visit that I’d be willing to drive halfway to meet up with her parents and pick “Lacey” up. Emma told me two Christmases in a row that “Lacey” was coming, and one spring break, and at least once over the summer, but these plans never materialized.

I find it odd that Emma still tried to meet up with “Lacey” when she and her dad were going white water rafting in TN. Emma told people that “Lacey” had been raped and attempted suicide, and she had the gall to ask her if she wanted “to meet up for coffee or something?” Did Emma not think that “Lacey” might not think there was something really wrong with this kid who told such horrible lies about her?

If you look up Narcissism on Wikipedia, you find: Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is a personality disorder in which a person is excessively preoccupied with personal adequacy, power, prestige and vanity, mentally unable to see the destructive damage they are causing to themselves and others. Signs and Symptoms: People with narcissistic personality disorder are characterized by exaggerated feelings of self-importance. They have a sense of entitlement and demonstrate grandiosity in their beliefs and behavior. They have a strong need for admiration, but lack feelings of empathy.[5]

Ding, ding, ding, ding!!

Emma is unable to see the destructive damage she causes to herself and to others! And, Emma is all about power (control).

Several people have told me they thought Emma was narcissistic, and I believe she is, but there’s more going on there than just that. I know Emma has some serious issues. Narcissism is only one of them. Emma accused me of having a Borderline personality, but I think Emma may have been diagnosing herself. Although, when Phill and I first read about Borderline Personality Disorder, Phill said this disorder described Sandra Brooks McCravy much more than it described me, the symptoms also describe Emma. Honestly, I think there’s a lot wrong with Emma. She may have parts of many other antisocial personality disorders, but we just didn’t have proper help to figure her out.

I know Emma has some serious issues, and I would guess some sort of antisocial personality disorder. From the signs we saw over the years, the lack of empathy, no remorse, no guilt, no shame, and nothing was ever Emma’s fault. Emma could be cold, calculating and manipulative, secretive, well organized, and egocentric. …Emma knew right from wrong, but rules didn’t apply to her. I think, having raised Emma and homeschooling her for 5 years, I knew her pretty well, but I had no idea what she was capable of. How do you admit you think your daughter could be a psychopath or a sociaopath? Psychopath was a term I heard all my life, but I never really knew the meaning. Phill used to call his mother’s live-in boyfriend, Kenny, a psychopath or a sociopath, but even then, I didn’t really know what those terms meant. After doing some research and talking to some professionals, I feel like I have a better understanding of psychopath vs. sociopath, and I truly believe Emma is a psychopath. As a mother, it breaks my heart to think my child is mentally ill, but what Emma has done goes beyond normal teenage rebellion
When Emma was growing up, she could be such a brat and so difficult about what she wanted, and it didn’t matter what was going on with the rest of the family, it just mattered that Emma got what she wanted. I used to think to myself sarcastically, “All that matters is that Emma gets what SHE wants!” or I might say to myself, “Well, Emma IS the center of the universe.”
I often wonder when that switch flipped for good. Emma could be my loving little girl who wanted to cuddle and talk things over with mom before bed, and she could be a cold, calculating, wicked being. At some point, the psychopath won out. Emma fed the wrong wolf. (From the Indian Proverb of the Two Wolves)
As a mother, what makes me sad is that if Emma is truly a psychopath, she doesn’t know what love is. She can pretend to love in order to get what she wants, but she will never know what it is to give your heart to another human being. It is hard to imagine someone being so self-centered that they can’t truly love those around them. I will write about my thoughts on Emma getting married in the next post, but it makes me sad for both her and her husband. Talk about a train wreck.

On Feb. 7, 2010, about a month and a half before Emma told us she’d been sexually molested by the priest, Emma sent “Lacey” a message about going to a bead show and buying herself a “promise ring.” Back in my day, a promise ring was like a pre-engagement ring that a high school boy might give a girl that he planned on marrying one day. I think Emma’s calling her ring a “promise ring” in the chat message might have been an error because she told me it was a “purity ring” and many times after that, I heard her refer to it as her purity ring. The ring was a little silver ring with a citrine stone. It was very pretty and looked nice on Emma.

Emma’s purity was very important to her. She wanted to remain a virgin until she married, and as a mother, you are glad to hear your 10th grader say that! With all the STDs to worry about, and all the unplanned pregnancies…………………….. I didn’t have a problem with her wanting to hold off on sex. Of course, but the age of 17, when Phill had me thrown out of my home, Emma had never even been on a date. Her thoughts about premarital sex might have changed once she had a boyfriend.

Emma’s own purity was one thing, but she held everyone else to her high standards. She spoke so terribly about everyone she knew at high school when she was in 9th grade at Jackson County Comprehensive High School. Emma made it sound like she was the only “good girl” in the whole place. Of course, Phill and I knew things had changed a lot from when we were in high school, so we just sort of assumed Emma knew what she was talking about. I think part of it may have been that Emma didn’t have any friends, so she made excuses by saying everyone else did drugs and was having sex so she didn’t want to be friends with any of these people anyway.

Someone told me that Emma seemed to have a superiority complex, and that I can believe. Emma and I attended a bible study down the street at a neighbor’s home with a group of women. There were a few members who had grandchildren that had been born to unwed parents. When the daughter of one of the women got pregnant and was not married, she started coming to our group. When we had a shower for this young woman, Emma was opposed to it. Emma felt like we were rewarding this young woman for her bad behavior. I thought this was a teaching moment, and I tried to discuss it with Emma. We talked about how lucky this girl was that she was living with her parents who were supportive and willing to help her. Also, Emma was very strongly Pro-Life, so I pointed out that this young woman could have chosen to have an abortion, but she didn’t. I thought we had some good conversations, but Emma was still very judgmental. Everyone was a sinner but Emma.

At one time, Phill had worried that Emma might be a lesbian. She didn’t show much interest in boys, but you have to admit that middle school boys can be kind of goofy. I wasn’t worried, just figuring she was not boy crazy. I think Emma was about 12 when we were at pet adoptions and walked across the street to Costco to get an iced coffee. We were walking back and chatting. I don’t remember exactly what we were chatting about, I think there had been a lesbian couple looking at a dog, but Emma commented on whatever we were talking about and then said , “Oh, I know I like boys!” I came home and told Phill he didn’t have to worry anymore.

One other thing that I think is funny about the purity ring and some of Emma’s letters was when she said she went somewhere. Maybe all teenagers do that, but Emma didn’t say, “My mom took me to a bead show.” She tried to make it sound like she was an adult and went by herself. I saw this in some of her other letters. I guess that was that teenager trying to be independent. Just over a year after Emma bought her purity ring, she got all the independence she wanted.

Coming up next: My thoughts on Emma’s upcoming marriage…….and for those of you that may have missed it, Emma’s wedding date is still Sept. 19, but the location has changed from Port Girardeau, MO to Santa Rosa, Ca. Gee, hope you all didn’t get your plane tickets already. Of course, Emma may be marrying Tyler Buchhein, an architecture student who lives in Ohio instead of Jackson Miller…………..just a little bug someone put in my ear………..but then, I haven’t received my invitation yet, but if you go to: http://registry.theknot.com/emma-roey-jackson-miller-september-2015/10942079 you can look at Emma’s wedding site, but you do need the pin number or password. (Sorry, I don’t have it, so let me know if you do!)

Letters to “Lacey” Part 17

Posted on July 12, 2015 by losingemma

Emma Roey, Emma Katherine Roey, Emma Kate Roey

Part 17
The following Day Emma starts another letter to “Lacey.”

Sept.29, 2009

Emma asks “Lacey” how she is and talks about the cool morning…
Emma then complains about going to the mall the day before to pick up her portraits, ugh. Tey are ok. She likes a couple of them, but of course it is the ones she doesn’t like that her parents had wallets and stuff printed of. We also went to Bath and Body Works, and Emma says she needs to stay away from that store. She loves all the pretty smells, but has four different ones….

Emma says that when “Lacey” is down at Christmas, they will go to the mall, and goes on to make fun of her mom, telling “Lacey” that her dad called and asked where we were, and her mother said, “Are we upstairs?” and how the cashier was laughing at her. Emma says when you look outside and see a balcony, obviously we are upstairs.

Emma reminds “Lacey” that they were talking about her parents being nosy. That is why she created a yahoo e-mail account. They don’t know about it, so they don’t snoop in it. Every time she uses it, she deletes it from her history so they wonn’t see it. She only e-mails “Lacey” and a few school friends from it, so she doesn’t think it’s that bad. She would never get into anything bad on the internet or give that address to anyone she didn’t know well, so she doesn’t feel too awful about keeping it secret from them. Also, she’s 90% sure they go through her text messages, so she deletes anything she doesn’t want them to see. It’s nothing bad, just what she told “Lacey” the night before. She wouldn’t want her parents to see that. She does have reason not to trust her parents. They are both awful liars. They can’t keep secrets for a minute. They’re just one of the things that could hurt her, so she doesn’t tell.

I love how Emma complains about the portraits (previously posted) we got from JC Penney. We had a coupon for $3/sheet of 8”x10”s, 2 5”x7”s, wallets, whatever. The price was very reasonable. When we looked at the proofs, I picked out the photos I wanted, and I let Emma pick out what she wanted. In addition to what we bought, her dad copied and made prints of them with the computer. Once again, Emma just had to find something to complain about, when she had nothing to complain about. It makes such a better story than saying, “My mom let me pick out the prints I wanted.”

The story about me not knowing if I were upstairs or downstairs at the mall may or may not be true. I am not much of a shopper, and I know there were two Bath and Body Works at the Mall of Georgia, however if we were close enough to the front of the store, I believe I would have figured out that we were upstairs. Emma’s poor, stupid mother.

Emma once complained that her dad and I lied to her, and we got into an argument. I told her that we might not tell her things that we did not feel were appropriate for her to know but we did not deliberately lie to her. She went on and on about how oh yes we did, so I asked her what we lied about. Her answer was, “Santa Claus.” So, sue us, Emma.

Emma Roey, Emma Katherine Roey, Emma Kate Roey

Sept. 30, 2009

Emma complains again about the cold and says she wishes she could have talked to “Lacey” last night. She complains that for two weeks in a row she has absolutely been unable to focus. Sigh. Not good. She was texting “him” last night, and she thinks she has already told “Lacey” that he will randomly start talking in Spanish, and no one can understand him because Emma is the only other one in Spanish and she is only in her first year. Emma says she is going to have to delete her Inbox soon. It is too full ad she doesn’t want to wade through it to decide what to keep.
Emma says she was asking Evan (aka “him”) to talk to anybody in the youth group that goes to Wednesday night Faith Formation about a project. Emma explains that the church moved Sunday school to Wed nights, and she can’t go because she has Forensics meetings and her mom says it is too much in one night. 
“Si mi amor.”
“Yes,, what???? I’m not that far yet.”
“Yes.”
“No I got that part. What is ‘mi amor’”?
“My love.”
“Love you too. I have to go to a meeting though [sic] I will txt you later.” Only, Emma complains, that she didn’t get to talk to him anymore last night because her meeting ran late and she was tired, but then she couldn’t sleep of course, so hopefully today.
Emma wishes she could fast forward to Saturday because the kids were tomeet at the church for skit practice…..

I would just like to point out another lie when Emma says her mother said “it’s too much in one night .” Poor Emma. Being the victim must be so exhausting. Because Emma really didn’t have any friends, and she quit most activities she tried, I took her to any church activity she wanted to go to, especially the youth group (and if Phill was around, he took her as well). The reason Emma could not go that Wed. night was because her Forensics meetings conflicted with her Faith Formation class, not because her mean ol’ mother said it was too much. It was not possible to do both activities, and she had to attend the Forensic meetings because it was a part of her grade, but doesn’t it sound soooo much more interesting to blame her mother for not getting to see “su amor” (her love).

Emma complains about going to the orthodontist and says she can’t wait to get her braces off (sometime next year). She says she is happy now because her mom says she can go to Faith Formation tonight! She is so happy, but of course she didn’t tell her mother why or act overly excited, but she can tell “Lacey” she is happy!  Except her teeth hurt which makes her not happy. Oh well, nothing is perfect. She is kind of nervous too but no one will ever know that except her and maybe him. Why can’t she feel as assured as she acts? If only she was a good enough actress to fool herself, that would really be something… Oooh, she almost doesn’t want to go tonight. He doesn’t think she is going because she didn’t know she was going until this morning. She knows he will be there though. Why does life have to be so darn complicated? And she didn’t tell mother about anything last night, so does she need to tell her before we go? She doesn’t think she is going to. She doesn’t think she will bring it up.

Emma says she is totally messed up. She is happy, but not happy. She is nervous, but excited. This is silly, but for once she doesn’t know how to stop being silly. Of course, she can cover it up with acting, but she can’t hide it from herself. Acting is how she builds her wall. She builds a facade so people think they know her and then she carefully adds to it so they never think to look under it. Sigh. She is going to go. She should look forward to it. Be Happy. Be Happy. Emma needs to be happy and bubbly and everything else she wants people to think she is.

Emma says she is so hyper. She wants to go and she has to wait three whole hours, during which she will be absolutely useless because she is totally not concentrating. Maybe while everyone’s coming in she can slip outside with the little kids and see him without her mom. Assuming we get there first. She will have to try to discreetly get her mom to leave early. Set the clocks ahead? Hmmm, too complicated….

Well, Emma says she was more honest there than she usually is, which she almost regrets She wants to just take out this whole page, but she will not. Because “Lacey” is not going to hurt her and her parents are never going to see this. So there is nothing to be afraid of. Emma tells “Lacey” to let her know what is going on with her!! And Aaron!!
Love ya!!
Emma-Kate

Ahhhh, young love and teen angst all rolled up into one. I don’t remember why we went to Faith Formation that particular night. My guess would be that Emma’s Forensics meeting was cancelled or postponed. I’m also not sure about Emma trying to discretely see Evan without her mom. When we got to the church, I always went and sat with the adults and she went off with the youth. Emma talked about Evan at home all the time at hone, so it’s not like it was a big secret. Everyone at church saw the two of them together frequently, so it wasn’t a secret there either.

Letters to “Lacey” Part 13: The Great Iris Folding Escapade!

Posted on April 15, 2015 by losingemma

Emma watches tv with one of our dogs and a foster dog. Emma Kate Roey, Emma Roey, Emma Katherine Roey

May 31, 2009 Four days after the last letter, Emma starts another. She tells “Lacey” that she didn’t have time to write yesterday. She volunteered at PetsMart and then went to church. She says she ran into C. (the neighbor girl Emma accused of drug use, being promiscuous, and of having an abortion and possibly a 2nd pregnancy) and C. really ticked Emma off. Emma knew they were having a party at K’s house (a couple of houses down from our home one Buck Trail in Hoschton) and there was no way Emma was going because she was sure that illegal things were going on, and she didn’t want to hear them and deal with the pressure and backstabbing. Emma says she knows she could resist temptation if she wanted to, but she hates, but is no supposed to because that’s not Christian. She does not like those girls at all, so it’s not worth bothering. C. wanted to know why Emma couldn’t come to the party, so Emma said she was going to do some things with our church to get ready for an event tomorrow, and C. said, “Oh, I’m sorry.” In a really snobby tone. Emma says she told C. off and that she is so tired of C. making fun of her religion and of “Jesus Freaks.” One of their favorite saying sis “I’m ok with Jesus, I just hate his fan club.” That totally gets Emma because her faith is a huge part of her life, and the girls are rubbing their disapproval in her face. That is totally inappropriate, Emma complains! Emma says this is just one of the many things that proves C. is not the person she thinks she is. Emma says that C. claims to be nonjudgmental. Emma says she honestly just wishes she’d never met C. in the first place and that for some weird reason, C. thinks she is Emma’s best friend. This is not true because Emma doesn’t trust her and never will!

Emma goes on to talk about going to the church to help set up for the Spaghetti Lunch, and then talks about church the next day and then the Spaghetti lunch that followed. Emma was annoyed because a lot of people did not attend the lunch and because they were shorthanded. Emma goes on to say she was talking to Evan (one of the members of the youth group) about pianos and how Evan told her his piano was from the 1880s and was a family heirloom. Emma said she then asked me( her mother) how old our piano was and said that I told her I bought it at a yard sale and complains that I keep saying that when she gets better we would get a new one—“ya, like when I’m in Florida in college….” She complains that there is no rich history to our piano and about the piano being a piece of junk.

(Ok, I have not checked into the story of Evan’s “heirloom” piano. What is it with Emma and “heirlooms?” I sort of doubt this story is true from what I know of Evan’s family, BUT our piano did not come from yard sale. It was an old piano given to me by a friend who no longer wanted it. Yes, it was a piece of junk, and yes it was just fine for Emma to learn on. Emma started piano in kindergarten, but after a few years of lessons, it was such a battle to get her to practice, so we quit. I think it was the summer before she started high school that she started again. Emma was never very serious about piano. She enjoyed the attention she got when she could play church hymms, songs from Phamtom of the Opera and Les Miserables, but she was never a serious music student. It was never my desire to turn her into a musician, but just to maybe give her a little appreciation for music. Had she been serious about it, Phill and I would have definitely encouraged her, but she really liked to play around and have fun, and that was fine too. I’ve been around enough to know that you can’t push kids in to music. I’d seen what Sandra Brooks McCravy went through with her boys. Her parents were very generous to pay for expensive piano lessons, and Derek was very serious about piano, but Johnathan wasn’t. Johnathan played because he was forced to, and eventually he quit and took guitar lessons. Derek played beautiful classical piano and even won a couple hundred dollars in a small scholarship competition. )

Emma complains about cleaning up after the spaghetti lunch that she and one of the younger girls were taking down decorations while some of the other kids (Rob, Nick, Jordan Ari) sat around talking and how she had to go over and tell them that they needed to help. Emma said it’s like she doesn’t want to be seen as controlling…..but the least they can do is help, and how her feet were killing her too, but she did what needed to be done anyway! Emma tells “Lacey” that she was also depressed that Jordan had a party and Ari and Rob were there, but she was not invited, and her mom immediately says, “Did you feel left out?” Emma says it made her realize that in all the times they’ve been friends, “upwards of a decade”, Jordan has never once invited Emma anywhere with her. Emma has had her over and done things with her, but she has never reciprocated. Emma considers Jordan a friend, but does not think Jordan thinks the same about her. In fact, she doesn’t. Emma knows and has known this for a wile, but this was just a blatant slap in the face to tell her this is the way things are and she needs to accept them. So that is her depression in a nutshell.

(Well, I don’t remember what I said, but I know I would have not said, “Do you feel left out?” upon finding my daughter was not invited to a party. I don’t practice that feely-mealy kind of speech. I probably said, “I’m sorry.” I really don’t remember at this point, although I do remember Emma telling me that Jordan had a party and she was not invited. Also, at that point, I think we’d known Jordan’s family for about 5 or so years, not upwards of a decade. I don’t remember exactly, but I think we joined the church when Emma was in 2nd grade. Jordan and her family came some time after we did and then left the church for a couple of years and then returned.)

June 2, 2009

Emma talks about us going to see the movie up with some passes our neighbors gave us for Christmas, and says it is a big deal for us because we only go to a movie maybe once a year, and the only reason we were going was because the were going to expire.

(I don’t recall if the passes were going to expire or not. I’ve received several movie passes as gifts, and I’ve never had any that had expiration dates on them, so this could be a fabrication, but it’s true that we didn’t go to movies very often. We preferred to wait until movies came out on video and we watched them at home.)

Emma tells “Lacey” about delivering flyer in the neighborhood for her pet sitting service.

(Emma had a homeschool assignment to make a flyer, so I suggested pet sitting since that was something she could do to earn some money. She did a great job and earned over $300 just before she went on the mission trip with Eternal Hope of Haiti.)

Emma says that the song, “After the World” by Disciple is stuck in her head right now…

You break the glass

Try to hide your face Recorded lines

That just will not erase

And buried in Your loss of innocence

You wonder if You’ll find it again

Emma says she doen’t even have a particular meaning or connection to this one, it just keeps playing through her head with no signs of impending relief. Oh well, it’s not nearly as bad as some of the stuff Jordan’s had stuck in her head….it’s like a reflex, comparing herself to Jordan. She can’t help it. So many memories….ok, trying not to get depressed…totally not working….*sigh*. Emma says she doesn’t know where she would be without “Lacey”. Jordan is gone and kayla is in Toccoa or France (and totally inaccessible regardless). Facebook is normally an encouragement, but she’s looking at her profile and “Emma has 42 friends”, oh ya right. Emma talks about receiving a friend request from a boy she knew when she attended George Walton Academy in Monroe, Ga. She remembers how in kindergarten, he was that boy Ms. McPheeters could never wake up from rest time. Emma talks about her fish Zorro and says she worries that her parents might let him starve while she is gone. She says everyone would think she was crazy or she’d beg to bring him on the mission trip with the youth group, but she doubts the youth group leader would go for that. Poor Fishie.

(Phill and I always took pretty good care of our pets, so I think this “Poor Fishie” is just idle chatter. Emma needed something to say. I can’t imagine Emma actually believed we would not take care of her fish while she was gone. As any parent knows, when a child has a pet, it’s the parents who are the ones to care for it.) ############################################################################################################################################################ Now for one of my favorite parts:

The iris folding card Emma and I made. Apparently, I did pretty good for a crippled old arthritic mother! Emma Roey, Emma Kate Roey, Emma Katherine Roey

The iris folding cards Emma and I made. Apparently, I did pretty good for a crippled old arthritic mother! Emma Roey, Emma Kate Roey, Emma Katherine Roey

Emma talks about teaching her mom iris folding like she used on the card she’d recently sent to “Lacey”. Emma says she loves her mom, but it is sooooo hard to teach her because she has arthritis in her hands and is sooo slow. It’s like she could do this ten times faster and not waste half the material she does, but it’s really important for her to do it herself. And on top of that, she gets angry when Emma tries to keep her from making mistakes. She wants to do it her way, but she will get really frustrated when hers don’t turn out as nicely as Emma’s do because she refuses to take Emma’s advice , which she gives in a very respectful tone that still get labeled “smart-a**”). It gets Emma so frustrated because it’s not even fun for her anymore, and what’s worse is when her mother wants to help with Emma’s projects, but she invariabley ruins them!! So Emma tries to work on things when she’s not home.

(I have to admit, when I first read this story about the iris folding, I was very hurt. Here it is a few years down the road and it’s no longer painful, but it’s funny in a pathetic sort of way. An imaginary twist of events from a sick mind. A few years before, I’d taken Emma to Michael’s on a Saturday for one of their $2 kid’s projects. They were doing Iris folding cards, and Emma made one. I think it was a Thanksgiving turkey if I remember correctly. She really enjoyed it, so later on we got her supplies and she started making these cards. She really enjoyed it and we bought more and more supplies for her. She had a ton of card making supplies. For those of you who may not know what Iris Folding is, it is simply folding strips of paper and laying them down, overlapping. It is quite simple to do. I always enjoyed seeing what Emma made, and said one day I’d like to try it with her. Emma was anxious to teach me, so when my niece was expecting her 2nd baby, and we found out it was a boy, we decided to sit down and make some cards. Emma wanted to make a baby boy card, and I just wanted to give it a try. I’d taught Emma so many things over the years, especially with my beadwork, she seemed to really enjoy teaching me her hobby. We had a lovely afternoon sitting, chatting, and working on our cards. It is still a sweet memory of some mother-daughter time. Funny how my memories of that day differ so widely from Emma’s, but then I’m the one Emma accuses of “blocking things out.” Uh, ok. I also find it pathetic that Emma that Emma claims I wanted to help her with her projects. Of course, since we homeschooled, I had to be in charge of school, but once we were done with that, Emma was on her own with her little arts and crafts. If she asked me for help, I certainly would, but as a homeschooling mom who spent at least 40 hours a week on school and then add to that cooking, cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping, yardwork, church activities, my part time job, taking care of the dogs, volunteering with the rescue…… I certainly wasn’t interested in taking over Emma’s little projects. It sure makes a good story though, doesn’t it. St. Emma has the patience of Job taking the time to teach her poor crippled mother how to fold paper! Oh, and did I mention I do not have arthritis in my hands? Funny how Emma doesn’t let the little details get in the way of her stories. In full disclosure, I do have osteoarthritis in on shoulder due to a repetitive motion injury, but other than that, no arthritis anywhere.) ##################################################################################################################################################################################################################### ################################################################################################################################################################################################################################### Emma tells “Lacey” about getting her HepA shot for going to Haiti, and then complains about seeing a little boy down the street who noticed her bandaid and asked what color lollipop she got for her shot. Emma says she feels so ripped off for getting painful foreign toxins injected into her body and she doesn’t even get a piece of candy! Sooo not fair! Emma signs off saying this letter is kind of short.

And just a personal note for Emma: I hope you and Daddy have a wonderful time at SEFF! Looks like the rain should clear up enough for the event! In telling the story about the iris folding, I got to thinking ab out when we were homeschooling and how I would keep some beadwork on the porch to work on because I couldn’t leave you alone to do your schoolwork. You sat out there and read books if I left the room. Remember when you cut the little purple amulet bag I was making? You denied and denied it, but I knew you did it. It was a perfect little scissor cut, and you and I were the only ones home. You were mad a me over something so you destroyed my project. Funny how you accused ME of taking over YOUR projects! Also, I was thinking about the time our friends who were down at the Holland School came by to visit, and one of them bought A $30 bead from me and I tucked the money under my desk blotter like it always did with money, checks, or important papers. Then the money disappeared, and you denied taking it. I know you did it Emma. I just didn’t know what to do when you denied, denied, denied, so I let it go. Love you sweetie, have a good time in Americus!

Letters to “Lacey” Part 12

Posted on April 5, 2015 by losingemma

While Phill did 95% of the work, Emma did choose the colors she wanted for her room

After Emma’s room was painted, Phill put together the bed/desk that Emma had chosen from Ikea. Emma Roey . Emma Katherine Roey. Emma Kate Roey.

This picture of Rob, one of the kids from Emma’s youth group, shows the curtains Emma chose for her room. Emma Roey, Emma Kate Roey, Emma Katherine Roey

May 20, 2009

(Three days later Emma starts another letter. The first paragraph is about how she finished The Secret Lives of Bees and she repeats a discussion we had at book club.)

Emma states that “Lacey” implied that she was bored without school to keep her occupied, so Emma made a list of suggestions with the one that trumps the rest, according to Emma, is that she could babysit, T., the little girl Emma babysat for. Emma says to just say the word, and Emma will send her there for the summer. Her mom would be THRILLED for “Lacey” to babysit as long as she could survive and Emma promises that she would never be bored.

Emma goes on to say she compiled a list of more viable suggestions: “Lacey” can volunteer to cook every meal for her family. She can teach herself how to knit and then make Emma a sweater. She can memorize the Bible. (The whole thing, not just parts of it.) She can illustrate her favorite verses. She can try to communicate telepathically with an animal, family member, or inanimate object. She can take lots of pictures. She can write letters, poems, and stories. She can cut up paper into little pieces. (Emma says this can amuse some of her little friends for hours.) She can ask Emma to forward Jordan’s texts to her and see if she can translate them into English. (They are even more challenging than those monster Sudoku puzzles that Emma tried and gave up after 5 minutes.) There’s another one, “Lacey” can try Sodoku. She can take things apart and try to put them back together. (Starting with the computer is not recommended because her “rents” will not be happy if she fails at the putting-it-back-together part.) Try to draw something. (Emma states she does not have the attention span and totally lacks skill for art.) “Lacey” can call Emma’s friend Erika, and let her talk to “Lacey.” She can take one shoe (not a pair) out of someone’s closet once a day every day and see how long it takes them to figure out something’s going on. She can put food colors in leftovers (green works well). She can change the background on the family computer. She can sew sequins around the neckline of a plain shirt which Emma says she does have the patience for, and besides it looks pretty! Go to any store and get a shopping cart full of stuff and try to unload it into other people’s carts without them noticing. Color code a family member’s closet. Get a bendy pencil. Label everything “Lacey” can think of including food, furniture, and people. Let little kids color her feet and hands in washable markers……………

(And yes, Emma definitely knows about the food coloring! Once, after I cooked some squash, Emma put green food coloring in the leftovers so that I would think it went bad and she wouldn’t have to eat it again! Even though I knew I’d made the squash the day or two before, I didn’t feel comfortable eating it. I kept asking Emma if she put food coloring in it and she denied, denied, denied, so she won that one, and I threw it away. It was some time later that Emma did admit she put food coloring in the squash.)

Emma says mentioning the washable markers reminds her of something she hasn’t told “Lacey” about. She was helping with VBS and Jordan’s mom told her to help her with the tie-dye project, and it did not occur to Emma to wear gloves, so her hands were bright red, blue, and yellow for weeks before they even began to fade. It had to be a full three months before the stains were completely gone.

(This is another example of a little exaggeration, or maybe a lot. Emma came home with a little dye on her hands, just splotches. It washed out after some hand washing and a few showers, so her hands were NOT brightly colored for weeks.)

Emma tells Lacey about her grandmother (Harriett Roey, Phill’s mom) sending her a newspaper clipping about people dying trying to escape from Haiti, and mentions how her grandmother thought she would support Emma’s endeavor of going on a mission trip by sending her depressing news stories.
Emma has just gotten her passport and travel itinerary and tells Lacey she will be leaving with Eternal Hope of Haiti at 3am on Wed. June 17th, fly to Ft. Lauderdale, and then on to Port-au-Prince where the group will take a puddle-jumper to the mission site. Emma says it is really hitting home that she is going to a third world country with 6 people, 5 of whom she has never met, traveling internationally and by herself for the first time. She needs some serious prayers!

(Odd that Emma claims to only know 5 of 6 people, as both the Nurse Practitioners, and the husband of the director of Eternal Hope went on the trip. One of these ladies was the neighbor that Emma later claimed was drunk when she went over to get instructions on pet sitting for her.)

Emma talks about doing some closet cleaning, and then about getting her new swim suit that she loves, stating that it is modest as far as swimsuits go. (See picture in earlier post.)

Emma asks “Lacey” what she is doing about school the next year. She knew “Lacey” wasn’t returning to Georgia Virtual School (GAVS), and she thought she might be going to public school, and if she is, how does she feel about it? Emma says he prays that it won’t be the H*** for “Lacey” that it was for Emma, if she must endure it at all. Emma tells “Lacey” not to ride the bus if at all possible and to let her know if she is going because she has a lot more survival tips she can give “Lacey.” (No joke. Emma thinks there should be a transition course.)

Emma says she may be staying in GAVS the next year, but we aren’t sure. She is not sure how she feels. Math online is difficult, but she will get through it. She sort of would like to try a hybrid school like Heritage Academy, and she applied there last year, but we were turned down because the branch where we lived was very Baptist. She says she understands they are not all like that, but this one was, and she was pretty upset at the time.
(Our friend Sandi’s sons, Derek McCravy and Johnathan McCravy both went to a Heritage Academy.)

May 21, 2009

Emma starts out complaining, “Ugh…” that the youth group is doing a Spaghetti Lunch on Pentecost Sunday, May 31st to raise money for their mission trip. It is so much work to coordinate that she just feels drained. She was at it all day with e-mail updates, making phone calls, answering questions, etc. The junior youth group was supposedly in charge of planning, but it is really Emma, the deacon, and Ms. Karen (youth group leader) who were doing the important stuff. Emma was finding acolyte subs and coordinating music. Finding acolyte subs entails calling the L. family (remember them?) since their daughter is the only non-youth group acolyte. Emma didn’t get them, but left a message and really hopes they just don’t call back so she can just pull and adult for the senior acolyte and that will be that.

(So, now who’s the control freak? Emma along with the deacon and the youth group leaders are the only ones working on the trip? And what is this about coordinating music? Nooooooo, that was not something Emma did. Emma played the piano for services when the organist was out. She played what she was told to, and had nothing to do with coordinating music.)

Emma says she called Evan and Nick because they are the only other musically inclined members. Nick was unsure about contributing, and if he won’t play, that is more work for the rest of them, but Evan’s mom is an orchestra conductor, so he wants to get a grou together to play jazz. So far, it looks like three of them will play; Emma, Evan, and Evan’s friend whose name she can’t remember. Evan plays violat and his friend plays the violin, and “Lacey” knows that Emma plays piano. Emma is a bit nervous because she has never played in a group before. Being homeschooled, and an only child, Emma says she has not had much in the way of opportunity. There are a few homeschool marching bands, bt for some reason, they don’t want a pianist. Emma wonders why. Anyway, after Nick’s response, Emma felt encouraged to see some enthusiasm.

Emma says she is worried about the deacon fussing at her for doing too much at her own discretion. The junior youth group (as she said) should be in charge of all aspects of planning, but they simply aren’t getting it done. Despite the fact that it would teach them a lesson, Emma didn’t think it was right to keep discussing things like they were final while keeping everyone else out of the loop. Emma knows from doing the fashion show how hard it is to work up a score on short notice, so even though it is not her job, she went ahead and started coordinating the music. It’s like, she doesn’t want to and she shouldn’t have to, but with things the way they are with no immediate sign of possible change, she thought it was better to ask forgiveness than permission. If you’ve volunteered someone for something, it’s only common courtesy to let them know. Not that Emma would ever remind the deacon of that, but it’s true.

(Ok, I’m understanding why, when my attorney read these letters he said Emma was all about control. And what is this about “work up a score?” Excuse me? Emma played the only songs she knew well and that was songs from Les Miserables and from Phantom of the Opera. “Work up a Score?” That’s pretty funny? It sounds like she was writing a musical. It was a little embarrassing that Emma played the same songs for both the Mother’s Day brunch and the Spaghetti Lunch because it looked like Emma didn’t know anything else, but no one seemed to mind hearing the same music over again.)

Next, Emma starts talking about how we are going to IKEA the following day to get some bookshelves and a desk for her room. Apparently they were having a really good sale, so sayeth her dad. (Phill was a BIG IKEA fan.) Emma says she desperately needs storage space, so she is excited about going to IKEA, and she will try to send “Lacey” a picture when her shelves are up.

Next Emma talks about Twilla (Of Eternal Hope of Haiti) and her daughter Hope stopping by because Hope wanted Emma to take care of their dog. Twilla had more information about Emma’s trip and Emma will be rooming with Leah, a Korean medical student from Emory. Emma also says that she will need about $70 in ones on her at all times.

May 27, 2009

Emma complains that she hasn’t had much time to write due to home renovations. She states we were working a bit on her room. She figures by the time she moves out, she’ll have it the way she wants and says “no pessimism there or anything.” Emma talks about going to IKEA and how huge lines and misdirection made the trip a couple of hours longer than it should have been.
(Ummmmmmmm, not exactly. We re-did Emma’s room and she had complete control over what she wanted from paint down to furniture. We spent a lot of time looking at IKEA while Emma decided on a bed, and we at lunch at the restaurant. There was one time there were lines at the cashiers, but they moved quickly, so the whole “huge lines and misdirection” was a gross exaggeration.)

Emma talks about church and about going to a cookout for Memorial Day at the home of one of Emma’s “Aunts” from the rescue.

Emma talks about the youth group and about calling, Ari, a youth group member. Emma states that she and Ari were both bored so they talked for almost an hours. Emma claims Ari has never been hostile, but they just have differences about politics, morals, and many other things. Emma says they avoided conflict though, and even though Emma thinks Ari is a closet psycho Marist, she likes her on a personal level. BTW, says emma, if you haven’t done much study of Marxism, the basic philosophy is “From each according to their ability, to each according to their need.” Emma says extreme political philosophies are an area of interest to her, and complains that most people use the terms Communism, Socialism, Marxism, and Fascism interchangeably and that is one of her pet peeves. She tells “Lacey” the next time she hears someone use one of those terms to ask them what it means and 90% of the time, they won’t be able to tell you.

Emma asks “Lacey” if she has heard So Long Self by Mercy Me. Emma says it is a breakup sont with yourself:

So long, self
Well it’s been fun but I have found somebody else
So long, self
There’s just no room for two
So you are gonna have to move
So long, self
Don’t take this wrong but you were wrong for me, farewell
Oh well, goodbye, don’t cry
So long, self

Emma says she thought the song was kind of silly when she first heard it, but the more she thinks about it, the deeper it seems.
Emma talks about going to book club the night before and how a couple of people were asking advice on family problems. Emma says she’s glad she’s not the only one with a majorly dysfunctional family.

Emma talks about the Deacon, at book club, speaking about the Drama triangle and the three parts of villain, victim, and rescuer. She says to get out of the triangle, you have to refuse to play any of those rolls, and admittedly, the toughest part to get out of is the victim.
(Kind of ironic, isn’t it? Emma has a hard time not playing the victim? Truer words have not been spoken!)

Emma goes on to talk about someone else mentioning being a victim vs. being a volunteer. Basically being a volunteer is making a martyr of yourself. (Hmmmmmmm. Funny, how the woman who mentioned’ victim vs volunteer” at book club later told me that that Emma had made herself into a volunteer.)
Emma tells “Lacey” that her Beta fish, Zorro, says hi and that she will give “Lacey” a detailed account of the Spaghetti Lunch soon.

Letters to “Lacey” Part 10

Posted on March 15, 2015 by losingemma

Phill and Emma when we were on a sightseeing trip in NYC. Phill Roey, Emma Roey, Emma Katherine Roey, Emma Kate Roey

Part 10
May 9, 2009
(Emma starts another 5 page letter to “Lacey.”)

Another, “Hey Laura!” and Emma tells “Lacey” that it is 1:10 am and she can’t sleep because she took her migraine meds. Emma talks about her mom teaching part time at a local Christian homeschool arts program and that the parent showcase was the previous night. Emma says that it is a collection of skits by all the classes strung together on a basic story line about happiness, truth, freedom, etc., and says that she went to the performance because A) she had nothing better to do, and B) a lot of people there found her on facebook, so she thought it would be fun to see them again. She didn’t remember until she was actually there, but everyone was so nice. No one told her how she could dress better, but ten people must have told her how pretty she looked. She was amazed how those people cared about her even though they hadn’t seen her in over a year. Coming from public school, it was hard to believe that two communities could coexist……. She states that she hopes to go back there next year now that she really appreciates it. (Funny thing is, we let Emma do online school the following year and she refused to go back to the homeschool arts program which was held on Fridays for ½ day.)

Emma goes on to say that a few people were interested in what public school was like and she was so torn at answering that question. In some ways she would say you have to see firsthand what a public school is like so you can really appreciate that you aren’t there, but in some ways you would be sooo much happier if you never had to go through that. For instance, forgive Emma for putting it bluntly, but when y ou barely recognize the existence of the f-word, you aren’t going to be grateful that people don’t shout it at each other sixty times daily, ya know?

By the way, Emma says, if some of this letter is incoherent, just don’t worry about it. Keep in mind that she is extremely sleep deprived and burning up. Did she mention that the a/c was broken? So whatever temperature it is outside is the temperature inside, and we have a wonderful A/C guy, but the problem is getting him to show up. He can never manage that. He was supposed to be there yesterday. (Ok, the part about the a/c guy is true. Jeff was wonderful and reasonable, but he rarely showed up when he said he would, and he rarely called to tell you he wasn’t coming.)

Later on in the day, Emma continues the letter around 8pm:

Emma says the song “What If” by Nicole Nordeman has been running through her head:

They say the cross will only make a fool of you.
And what if it’s true?
What if He takes His place in history
With all the prophets and the kings
Who taughter us love and came in peace
But then the story ends
What then?
But what if you’re wrong?
What if there’s more?
What if there’s hope you never dreamed of hoping for?
What if you jump
And just close your eyes
What if the arms that catch you, cathc you by surprise….

Emma says she loves the chorus to the song. It makes her wonder about all the world religions, our religion atheism, and reminds her of a couple o her favorite pieces of wisdom she’s picked up over the years:
If Christians die to find out atheists were right all along, what do they lose? Nothing. But if atheists die to find out Christians were right, what do they lose? Everything.

Also, she got this from a guy who spoke at a graduation: At college you will be met with logic that makes sense and sounds good, and also totally contradicts Christ. Yes, there will be proof that Christianity is a lie. To Adam and Eve, there was proof that nothing bad would happen if they ate the forbidden fruit. (Emma says in parentheses that she was listening to this going “wow”…) From the beginning, Satan has used sound logic to trick us. It totally puts terms like “fact, reality, logic” into a new perspective, huh? (I’m thinking Emma fell for Satan’s trick. What about you?)

May 10, 2009

Emma talks about the church’s Mother’s Day Luncheon and Fashion Show and complains that she always ends up in the fashion show. She never volunteers for it, but her name magically appears in the bulleting as a model anyway. Oh, well. Don’t let Emma make too much of a martyr of herself, she goes on, as it wasn’t that bad. There were a couple of new twists in her part this year. They called her Friday night and asked her to play some dinner music at the lunch while people were coming in. Oh, ya, a day and a half of notice, let’s see what she can come up with?

Emma played some of the score to Phantom of the Opera, which she knew fairly well. Emma was pleased and embarrassed that Evan stood beside her and listened from beginning to end……
Emma says she also volunteered to help serve people their food, and this was just as well because it took away from the fact that she wasn’t eating. She tells “Lacey” not to worry because she’s not anorexic, but she doesn’t like the food. Emma tells how she was serving one side of the room and Evan was serving the other.
After everybody finished lunch, Emm ran upstairs to dress for the fashion show, and one of the younger girls told her they heard her playing the piano and how good she was, but that she thought the church would get a “professional” and the girl’s older sister said, “Shhh! She is a professional!” (True? I would guess this was a cute fabrication.)

By the way, Emma tells “Lacey”, whenever she goes to church, she sees to effortlessly accumulate a posse, so it’s not surprising that she ended up on the catwalk with two little girls….

May 11, 2009

Emma says this letter may be a bit short, but she’s going to get it in the mail the following day. She is looking forward to the end of school party the youth grou is having the following Sunday.

Emma talks about getting “Lacey’s” e-mail and about “Lacey’s” mom’s breast cancer. Emma says this must have been really trying, but it makes “Lacey” a huge part of who she is and it is amazing that she can share her experiences so openly because it can be such a blessing for those who are hurting.
(If you’ve read the blog, you already know that Emma lied about “Lacey’s” mom’s breast cancer. There were at least 2 or 3 times Emma claimed “Lacey’s” mother was hospitalized and on death’s door. They didn’t know if she would pull through! Oh the drama! My attorney spoke to “Lacey’s” parents, and I spoke to “Lacey’s” mother myself. She did have breast cancer, but was treated as an outpatient and was NEVER hospitalized, and was close to dying.)
Emma tells “Lacey” that she loves her poems because they express what Emma herself would say if she had the courage to write it down. Going back to not sharing emotions/trusting people. Emma feels like if she doesn’t put it on paper or saved it on a computer, it’s just that much less likely that other people will find out how she really feels. It’s so much easier to talk to “Lacey” because she doesn’t have any expectations Emma has to uphold. Emma doesn’t have to worry about something she may say wrong and shattering “Lacey’s fragile impression of her. Emma says she builds a façade and cultivates it, continually adding detail and chrisma and charm until it doesn’t even occur to people that there might be something deeper. She feels like it is too late to stop. It’s different with “Lacey” though because “Lacey” doesn’t see the face, ya know? Emma says she guesses “Lacey” does the same thing.

Also, about the poem, about looking into your eyes and seeing the real you, (not the façade)….It’s funny, Emma doesn’t even worry about people seeing past it anymore. She realizes now that people only see what they want to see. Emma wonders what they’d think if they knew who she really was, but she also knows that they don’t want to know. They see a sweet, well-spoken, gentle young lady and they like what they see, so they don’t want to look any further. That is both relieving and disconcerting at the same time, you know what she means? It is just nice to know that someone else (Lacey) is going through what Emma is going through. Emma says she looks at Jordan, Evan, Rob… do they ever feel this way? She doesn’t know and she never asks because that would be admitting she feels this way, which Emma could never do. Then she looks at the little girl she babysits who’s life’s ambition is to be a teenager. Will she feel like this, or will it be as great for her as she th inks it is for Emma. It is so hard to think about all this…
Emma says these thoughts remind her of the chorus form a song by Jars of Clay, Two Hands:
I use on hand to pull you closer,
The other to push you away…
I have a broken disposition
I’m a liar that thirsts for the truth..

Emma says the song is about being divided and how we could do much more if we were united.
(I am refraining from commenting here. Too much teen angst, which I know is just part of growing up.)

Emma says she just said this, but she is so comforted to know someone else is going through the same thing she is. It is also nice to have someone to talk to that she feels like she can actually trust. She thinks she can trust “Lacey” because she doesn’t have the expectations that everyone else has. No one tells her what to think of Emma. Does that make sense? She hopes so. It doesn’t make sense to Emma how she can be so h appy sometimes and so utterly depressed other times. Does “Lacey” feel the same way? Emma just looked at this letter and saw that she was all over the place on the emotional side of things.

Emma talks about an older couple that we were friends with at church. The husband passed away the year before, and the wife was now going on hospice.

Then Emma bounces back to see if she can end on a lighthearted note and tells a funny story about Jordan calling her after she sent out the e-mail about the youth group party.
“What day is the party? It doesn’t say.” Jordan asks, and Emma tells her to read Emma the subject line which has “Sunday” in it, and Jordan asks, “Oh, it’s Sunday?”
Emma sas that Jordan will be the first of many who will call or e-mail her with that question, and then mentions she is babysitting the following night, so she can watch Aquamarine again…………
Blessings and Love, Emma-Kate

Letters to “Lacey” Part 9

Posted on March 10, 2015 by losingemma

Emma on a youth group church trip where they went scuba diving in a pool. Emma Roey. Emma Katherine Roey, Emma Kate Roey.

Part 9

May 7, 2009
The very next day Emma starts another letter to “Lacey.” This one is 3 pages, single spaced. She starts out saying how she resolves to write more light-hearted thoughts about nothing in particular (to compensate for the depressing letter she mailed out this morning). She says this is the last day she is locked in the back room of the counseling office at Jackson County Comprehensive High School. She says she finished her last final and is bored out of her mind. That along wigh feeling bad for not writing “Lacey” last week (because she went to SEFF) is why she is writing so much this week, so she will share all her random thoughts, stories and other stuff she feels compelled to share with “Lacey.”

Hmmmm. Where should she start? Emma says her mom keeps texting her since shes at the school, and of course she has her phone on vibrate, so she jumps when she is not expecting to get a text. It happened during lunch and everyone was laughing at Emma (not with her) when in the middle of a sentence she went, “Ahhh!” She is lucky the administrators didn’t see her look at her phone. Students aren’t supposed to have them on campus. Emma says she is not technically a student, but they treat her like one because they don’t know any different. She is not sure if these qualify as happy thoughts, but she is trying….

(And no, I did not make it a habit of texting Emma while she was at school. If I were to text her, it usually would have been in response to a text Emma sent me. I did not feel like I should text Emma while she was at school. Also, there was no rule about the kids not having cell phones. They ALL had cell phones. They were not supposed to have them out during class, but there was no rule that they could not have them at school. A slight exaggeration there.)

Emma tells “Lacey” just so she knows, Emma deleted the last letter after she printed it yesterday. That way no one can ever find it and trace it back to Emma. She says she will do the same with this letter. It never hurts to be safe.

(Hmmm. I wonder why Emma felt the need to delete her letters? What did she have to hide? I guess she didn’t expect “Lacey” to turn them over to my attorney.)

Emma’s next paragraph starts off saying that Oh, she can think of something that is not depressing! She got an e-mail that Rob tagged her in a note on Facebook. So, she opened up the note, figuring it would be something worth reading, but it was chain mail. Emma says she loves her friends, but does not understand them.

Emma says she just texted Jordan and asked what was a funny youth group story, trying to think of something to tell “Lacey” and Jordan texted back “idk…….monopolyzng? :P” Emma says to remember that Jordan can’t or won’t spell… and anything that she says includes “idk” whether she really knows or not). Emma says she THINKS she knows what Jordan means by that, and it’s a story she doesn’t think she’s told “Lacey.” The kids were at youth grou one night, talking about “norms” which basically meant Ms. F. was talking about how to run the group and a few of them were half paying attention while the rest were off in na-na land (teenagers do not listen well at 7:30 on a Sunday night). Ms. F. was talking about how everyone needs to feel comfortable sharing their ideas, and this won’t happen if one person keeps talking. To back up her point, she told us about an instance in the book club where one adult participant (whom she did not name) was monopolizing the conversation and because of that, other people were too intimidated to contribute. Then she asked the kids to share their experiences with this problem and Evan, who was still processing the book club example raised his and and said, “But Father T. is the priest…..isn’t he supposed to monopolize the converstation?” Everybody, Even Ms. F. started laughing.
Emma goes on to say that most of them knew that adult she was referring to was Mrs. L, who’s family Emma wrote about earlier, and everyone knew it was not Father T.
(Ok, the only problem here is that Ms. L. never attended bookclub. I attended book club, and Emma often went with me, but never went without me. Mrs. L. never participated in the book club Just an opportunity for Emma to speak ill of someone she didn’t like. It did not matter if it were true or not.)

Emma goes on to say that Jordan is sort of upset with her bacuse she asked Emma what she would say if she were to speak at Jordan’s funeral. Emma gets more verbose telling the story, but basically says she would want to tell a story that people would remember Jordan by, so she would tell about when they were at camp and Jordan was performaning her color guard routine with the mop.
“What?? That’s what you want people to remember me by?? Why?? That’s mean!!”
Emma says that the problem was that Jordan knew exactly what she wanted Emma to say before they started talking, but unfortunately, Emma didn’t, so now Jordan is mad at her for saying the wrong thing at her imaginary funeral. And how does Emma end up with friends she can’t understand?

Emma’s next paragraph starts out with, “Guess what?” Emma says she still has an hour and fifty-seven minutes to talk to “Lacey” and isn’t “Lacey” thrilled. She also changed to a smaller font so she won’t have to print out as many pages. Let her see, what life changing venture can Emma tell “Lacey” about now? Oooo, she got a camera. It’s a Kodak and it’s dark purple. It stores almost 2000 pictures. Now she can take pictures of her friends and be assured she is not in them. Of course, she will have to be careful not to let it out of her hands… She is sure her friends would be absolutely delighted to torture her with her own camera. They have enough fun pulling out cameras or phones and pointing them at her. Oh, and there’s a really funny video Jordan has of Confirmation last summer. When you hit play, everything is blurry and then it focuses on the group and they all make funny faces. Then you her Jordan say, “I’m taking a video…” and everyone drops their poses and grumbles. Lol.

Then Emma says oh wow, Jordan just texted her. All it says is, “c pretty butum.” And Emma actually does not see the pretty button because apparently Jordan forgot the picture she ment to attach. Or knowing Jordan, she may have even forgotten to attach the pretty button video she thought to take for Emma’s viewing pleasure.

What other useless material does Emma feel like sharing. She may tell Jordan about the time the pool collapsed….then Jordan texts again with a video attachment that is labeled “pretty butun” and the video is 23 seconds long, but it’s very dark, so it is hard to tell if it is a button on Jordan’s knee under her desk. Emma says she can hear Jordan’s Geometry teacher in the background saying, “And with the second prep, I want you to do for homework…I will take this up” and the video cuts off.
Next Emma goes on to tell the pool story about how she and Kayla Benifield Weaver collapsed our inflatable pool, but they were fine and came out miraculously unscathed except for Kayla hitting her head on a tree.
(Another Brian Wiilliams/Emma Roey moment here, as I was there when the pool collapsed, and no, Kayla did not hit her head on a tree. I wonder if Emma had to duck from sniper fire as well?)

Emma writes a little more fluff, killing time about looking out the window and all the things she sees in the parking lot, how she has an hour and 15 minutes left, complains about the 2 hours she spends on the school bus, talks about an upcoming church youth group trip… Emma complains about needing a bathing suit, but the only thing she can find in her size is a bikini, and she would like to order a tankini, but they are so expensive.…. and then signs off with the usual:
Blessings and Love, Emma-Kate

(One last note about the bikini. I don’t know why Emma felt the need to say the only thing she could find in her size was a bikini. At that point, we were busy finishing up with school and did not go shopping for a bathing suit until probably sometime in June. In fact, I had ordered Emma a tankini from Land’s End, but after she got it, she decided she didn’t like it and refused to wear it. If only she’d told me that before she wore it so I could have returned it. I don’t understand this need to say the only thing she could find was a bikini. Emma never would wear a bikini, and we did find a lovely black and white suite at Kohls’s that met with her approval. See Pic……….. )

Letters to “Lacey” Part 8

Posted on March 7, 2015 by losingemma

For about 7 years, Emma, her aunt, and I went to the William Holland School in Young Harris Ga. every summer for a week. In 2010, Emma spent a week learning how to cut Cabachons.

Part 8

May 6, 2009

Emma starts out this letter to “Lacey” with and “Ugh” and says that she is at Jackson County Comprehensive High School for three days of EOCT testing. It only took her a few minutes on the bus for her to remember exactly why she hates JCCHS and the people there so much. From the moment she got on the bus she saw more evidence of “their” backstabbing definition of friendship. Emma supposes they consider crucifying a ‘friend’ for what she’s wearing, because it’s not in style, to be good for her. At least that was how Emma interpreted the situation. Today, they were criticizing K. for her flip-flops that she wore three days ago. Emma says she did not see the flip-flops, but apparently they were not in style and she is refraining from using the profanities they uttered repeatedly, but she is sure “lacey” can imagine.

Emma tells “lacey that is is so strange. When they are on the bus, Emma is totally and completely disgusted with them and can’t wait until she can get off the bus and run to the counselor’s off ice (that’s where she tests and uses the computer) and get away from them. But then she at lunch with them because it is better than eating alone, slightly, and they were talking and saying they miss Emma and they were talking about friendships, and C. put her arm around Emma and said, “Emma and me, we’re tight, man!” Emma asks “Lacey”, if C. honestly believes that??? After all, C. had not seen Emma in months. In those few moments, Emma felt like maybe, just maybe she could be friends with the girls , but that was until Bo flicked a ketchup-loaded lettuce leaf in her direction, and Emma said, “Hey! These are my new jeans!” so Bo told her that she shouldn’t wear them to school. Emma talks about being sick and having lost 10 lbs., and keeping her clothes nice (not grungy) and modest, which is unacceptable to her friends.
(A slight exaggeration on the weight loss. Emma would lose two or three pounds during her vomiting episodes, but the only time she lost 10 pounds was when she had Rotovirus.)

Emma says she will tell “Lacey” about her “friends.” She starts with C. and says that she met her when she started volunteering with the animal rescue group that we worked with and she liked her for years. Emma noted that C. did curse a lot, but she seemed nice other than that. C. also assured Emma that she and her friends would take Emma under their wing when she came to high school, but Emma did not realize that C’s bringing her into the clique would impact Emma so greatly. Shortly after Emma started at JCCHS, C. had her first abortion, and Emma says that that shook her to her core. You see, until then, everything had been great. Emma felt loved and accepted and overlooked the things she didn’t want to see like the backstabbing and the drinking and drugs. Basically you name it, and C. does it, but the abortion was too much for Emma to ignore.
(If you have been reading the blog, I have already told the abortion story. It was a lie. Emma made it up.)

After C.’s “abortion,” Emma says she started to open her eyes. She began to realize that the people here were not people she wanted to be around, much less look up to or be in a ‘group’ with. When Emma looked at what went on, she was still amazed that the people like her church friends still existed. If there was anyone at JCCHS like her church friends, Emma had yet to find them, and she has tried! So many people Emma used to think a lot of have turned out to be unworthy of her commentation..she can’t think of one at school that she truly admires.
KB is another “friend”. BTW, all these friends live in Emma’s neighborhood, she states. The other friends tell KB she is stupid, although they use a much less polite term. KB believes them and even says it herself.

M. is who Emma considers to be the most intelligent “friend.” She is just as cruel as any of them, but she is also a bit more aware. She has half a clue about politics, although she’d probably tell you she had a whole clue. She thinks she knows it all. “It all” entails the huge government conspiracy that’s out to get us. M. agrees with Emma’s political views, but is much more radical than Emma and Emma and is an extreme right winger. She wants conservatives to rule the world, basically.

A more lighthearted moment, Emma talks about being on the phone with Jordan the night before and talking about Twilight, and then goes into a long descriptive story about Jordan and a spider…

Emma goes on to tell another story about Jordan and when they were at camp the previous summer. Emma claims that she found Jordan out cold on the bathroom floor, and when she came to, all she could whisper was “Spider” and Emma killed it because she didn’t want to risk losing Jordan again.
(Ok, seriously, does anyone believe this story happened? It makes a great story, but Jordan doesn’t really faint that easily.)

Emma’s last paragraph tells about “the wonderful world of grandma” because her grandmother sent her a card and Emma couldn’t understand why her grandmother bought a 50 cent card and then sent it priority mail. Emma complains that Grandma signs “Love” but never writes a personal message.
Emma signs off and says if she writes anymore it will be about the Bad Place where she is, and that would just be depressing.

Blessings and Love, Emma-Kate.

Letters to Lacey Part 7 ————UPDATE COMPLETE 3/1/15

Posted on February 17, 2015 by losingemma

Christmas 2008, one of Emma’s gifts was a fairly extensive make-up set. Emma Roey, Emma Katherine Roey, Emma Kate Roey

Letters to “Lacey” Part 7

May 3, 2009

This 6 page typewritten letter starts out with Emma apologizing for not writing for a week but she says she has a pretty good excuse.
Emma changes the subject and talks about listening to a song by Natalie Grant called Perfect People which, for those who may not be familiar with the song, starts like this:
This song is not for you, if you’ve never cried a river
Or had your heart broken in two
This song is not for you, if everyday you wake up
The skies are blue
But this is for anyone, no matter how you pray
The pain won’t let you get through
But you try and you try
Still they lie, they say that it’s over for you

Read more: The Walls Group – Perfect People Lyrics | MetroLyrics

Emma says this song is so true. She guesses that is basically human nature. It sort of ties into hiding emotions, which Emma understands because she does that too. She doesn’t want to hurt people or EVEN WORSE damage their perception of her. Emma says she tries to appear flawless before everyone because that is what she wants to be. She guesses subconsciously that she hopes if enough people think she is a wonderful person then maybe she will be that person. She asks “Lacey,” “Ya get what I’m saying?” and says from “Lacey’s” letter, she thinks she does.

Emma says she totally connects to another Natalie Grant song called Back to My Heart.

Strong on the outside
But coming apart at the seams
That’s me
Tragically always together
But bruised underneath
Well, that’s me
I stand just to stumble
Tripping on my pride
Why do I always try to hide?
Meanwhile, back at my heart
I’m desperate for all that You are
Undo me, take me apart

Read more: Natalie Grant – Back At My Heart Lyrics | MetroLyrics

Emma says she definitely has issues with surrendering and trusting Him completely with her life. It is not something she can fathom. She is one of those people who always has to appear in control, even when her life is really coming apart. She has to be the organizer, to plan everything, to know exactly what’s going on down to the last minute detail.
Next Emma starts answering random questions. Her birthday is Dec. 19, 1993. Her e-mail is dogbreath….., and she talks about wanting to read the book “Lacey” mentioned called Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris. She says she’d heard of it and had seen ads for it in World magazine. She says she hasn’t read it, but she wants to.
Emma mentions “Lacey” telling her about her imaginary friend, Christine, and Emma says it is not lame that “Lacey” had an imaginary friend. Emma confesses that she never had an imaginary friend, but she did write letters to nobody in particular. It is much easier than actually confiding in someone. Emma says she is always the first person her friends trust with secrets and the last person to share her own. Also, as she mentioned before, Jordan is the only girlfriend Emma has that she sees a lot, and Jordan is just not someone Emma trusts with secrets. It is nothing personal, it is just that Emma knows Jordan does not think before she speaks. She eventually blurts things out one way or another. (In case “Lacey is wondering, Emma has learned this from experience.” Jordan doesn’t mean to to this, and she is very sorry afterwards, but that is not much help. Emma says she would rather not induce the inevitable. Like she said, Emma has to be in control, and sharing secrets is sharing control. Emma adds that she is an only child and doesn’t share well, and then says in parentheses “Half Joking. Half serious.”

Emma comments on something “Lacey” said in her last letter and says that “Lacey” and Emma are a lot of like because they won’t tell people when they are hurt because they want to handle it themselves, but they are quick to comfort friends who are hurting.
Emma says she guesses “Lacey” has figured out that she is disappointed with Obama. She hopes that the economy will hit rock bottom during his term because that would more likely get people to vote conservative in 2012. Emma says she would love to see Huckabee run.

Emma talks about reading in Reader’s Digest that Shyness is a disease, and BTW she loves Reader’s Digest. She talks about “Lacey” and her sisters………….

(If you have been reading the blog, you will remember that Emma used an article from Reader’s Digest just a few months before writing this letter to Lacey. While attending Jackson County Comprehensive High School, Emma claimed that the kids had drug parties where they took anything they could get from their parent’s medicine cabinets and threw all the pills in a bowl, and then passed the bowl around, so each participant could grab a handful of pills and swallow them. I later realized Emma had gotten this idea from the Reader’s Digest.)

In the next paragraph, Emma says she knows what “Lacey” means about wanting to talk to the guys at her church. When Emma was at Jackson County Comprehensive High School, she passes her neighbors, Josh and Neal Andrews on the narrow sidewalk that led to first block (class). She says they used to be really close friends from her birth to about first grade. Then they went to different schools and grew apart, but every day they’d be the only people on that far end of campus at 8:15, and never once in the five months we saw each other every day did they ever speak to each other. They both pretended the other party didn’t exist. Emma felt like it was their “home turf” and if they wanted to establish a friendship then fine, and if not, that’s fine too, but Emma didn’t want to invade anyone’s world by pushing herself in.
Anyway, Emma hoped He would help “Lacey” find the courage to talk to the guys at church and that “Lacey” already has something in common with these guys, their faith, and maybe He’ll use the connection to create relationships that will help others.
(If you ever saw JCCHS around 2008, it was a very crowded school. I can’t imagine Emma, Josh, and Neal being the ONLY ones anywhere on that campus. Any time before or after school, or between classes, there were kids everywhere.)

May 4, 2009
Emma talks about how “Lacey’s” dance recital sounds like fun, and Emma can’t dance, so she envies “Lacey.” The picture “Lacey” sent of “Lacey” and Nikki was great, and Lacey’s school picture was perfect. Emma wishes she had that good a picture; hers looks fake, but then she generally doesn’t like pictures of herself.
Emma mention’s “Lacey’s” voice recital and says she used to be in choir with Rob and Jordan until out church decided to cut it because there weren’t enough kids. Emma claims she ended up either getting the solos or singing the solos because the other soloists chickened out. Emma, on the other hand, just doesn’t care what people think, and church people are nice, ya know? Gnenerally, with the exception of the L family. Although they go bay a different name in “Lacey’s” town, Emma says she is sure they go to her church, too. The mom will talk your ear off about her kids, but doesn’t want to hear anything you have to say. The dad will sign up to be on the Grounds Crew, but he never actually shows up. The daughter is Emma and “Lacey’s” age and one of their least favorite people. She is very into fashion and has to comment (very rudely) on anything you wear that is not ‘in style.’ The younger son always gets into trouble and ends up blaming it on someone else. The mom will always defend him in this, even though he is claiming it’s Will’s fault and Will is one of the best behaved kids in church. Emma is sure by now that “Lacey” knows exactly who she is talking about….every church has a family like that.

(Emma knew the L’s daughter (whom I will refer to as LD) from about 2nd grade until we left the church when Emma was in 10th grade. The two girls NEVER got along, and Emma frequently complained about this young lady being mean to her, saying something she wore was “so last year” or telling her that she probably got her dress on clearance. When the two girls went to church camp one year, Emma complained that Mrs. L sent her daughter a box with things for all the girls in the cabin, but LD hoarded the items and wouldn’t share with the other girls.
I am a little curious as to know Emma would know that Mr. L never actually showed up as a member of the Grounds Crew. Mr. L was actually a member of the vestry and well as in charge of the Grounds, and people worked on the grounds at all hours, not when church was going on, so I don’t know how Emma would have any idea that this man never actually showed up.)

SEFF 2009

The next part of the letter Emma tells “Lacey” about being at SEFF the previous week. SEFF is the Southeast Electric Flight Festival held at Hodges Hobbies in Americus, Ga, the largest RC (remote control) airplane event in the word, and Emma just happens to be the Assistant Director, as well as the only girl on the staff of 50+ people, she says. She started going there three years ago, and her dad (who’d been on staff at SEFF) had asked Jeff Meyers, the director, to put her on staff too. Jeff somewhat reluctantly agreed. He was always pulling his hair out, so Emma was to be his helper and basically do what he told her. Emma says that in a event with thousands of people, the miscellaneous stuff is a job in itself. Believe her, she knows.

Emma says the first year she went to SEFF was known as Cinderella SEFF. Basically, even though she worked her tail off, she got lucky in a lot of areas. Two people gave her airplanes, just being nice. One was worth about $500, an Extra 360. Emma also won a lot of prizes in the raffle and won another plane in the prize drop.

Emma says her perception of people was really skewed the first year. She was still sort of afraid of the men referred to as the Hodge Hounds that worked for Hodges Hobbies story or help maintain the property. The degree of education, politeness/manners, and general redneck-ness varies greatly among the Hodge Hounds. Mel is a veteran, well educated and generally polite. “No-–hoes” Chris is very southern, thinks manners mean s washing our hands before digging in (he’s never heard of silverware), and thinks that it’s not good unless it has jalapeños on it (this concept is not limited to food, by the way). Emma goes on to say how she used to be scared by the Hodge Hounds, but came to realize how nice they were………….

Emma foes on to say another person she had a very skewed perception of was the director, Jeff Meyers. The first year, Emma thought he was great. He was nice to her and did a great job with the event. He did everything well, and was nice enough to not only pay all the volunteers’ expenses, but gave each of them $150 on top of that. Emma says she was blind to the other side of Jeff. It wasn’t until this year that she began to notice the little things. She goes on to say that Jeff is basically an alcoholic and by the end of the day he can barely form a coherent sentence. He is majorly addicted to chewing tobacco, and there are cans of it everywhere; in his file box, in the cooler, in the boxes of stuff they use for the event… She still thinks Jeff does a great job running the event, but she does not look up to him the way she used to.

Emma talks about how during the event, she does the miscellaneous stuff. She is in the background doing what needs to be done. She doesn’t want to be in the spotlight. But being one of the only teenage girls down there, she always ends up getting some attention that she’d be much happier without. Most of the guys on staff look at me like a daughter or granddaughter, and that’s fine. One of the guys, Mike Deboer (aka the Raffle Nazi, Curmudgeon, or Mean Mike) is even her honorary granddaddy. But some of the men, like thirties or forties actually try to flirt with Emma! Emma just thinks that’s creepy. She can half understand that with guys her age, but beyond that, it just makes her uncomfortable. But, she is staff and she has to deal with the spectators a lot, so she can’t afford to make enemies. It is really a bad situation. She tries to ignore them, but they don’t take the hint. That is when she needs her friend, Jordan. Jordan can handle that. Jordan likes attention and she can take it well. Emma can’t. She’d give anything to have Jordan down there with her.

Emma goes on to describe her duties at SEFF. She is in charge of dealing with and setting up vendors under a huge cover where they can sell their stuff. She is also in charge of scheduling the Noon Demos on Friday and Saturday, which is fun. All sorts of planes fly, and they have some of the best pilots in the world. She doesn’t mention everything because it is boring. She figures “Lacey” doesn’t want to hear about labeling tables and sweeping trailers and telling spectators, for the millionth time that they can NOT use channel 2 on the radio because it is reserved for staff communications. But she does work really hard, 8 hours pretty mjuch everyday even though she is scheduled for two to four. Emma says she got paid better this year. Instead of $150, she and Phill got $350 each. Emma goes on to say how her “rents” don’t pay her for anything, ever, so she is really careful about how she spends her money.
(Phill and I had tried giving Emma an allowance in exchange for a few chores every week, but it was such a battle to get Emma to do her chores, we gave up on this idea. We bought everything she needed or wanted, and gave her money if she was going somewhere, so she didn’t really need an allowance.)

Emma’s next paragraph says there were a couple of other girls on staff this year. Emma says she knows she told “Lacey” that she was the ONLY one, but what she meant was that she was the only one that counted. Jenny Klos and Emma Mason were also on staff. They were both seniors and the only job they had was driving the Courtesy Shuttle (aka golf cart). They didn’t even do that right, according to Emma. They loaded it up with teenagers and drove around until they ran out of gas. Also, they both dressed like the word that is a synonym for “tramp” and starts with a “S.” (Skank?) Emma says she is not going to actually say the word, but it is still true. Those jeans shorts that are about three inches long and very low tank tops or halters—that Emma considers to qualify as the “S” word.

Emma says she was sort of bent out of shape about the girls. She states that she would LOVE to be paid $50 a day to drive a golf cart, but noooooooooooo, she has to do REAL work. She doesn’t think Jenny or Emma have touched a broom in their lives. They certainly wouldn’t sit out in the burning hot sun for two hours to keep the demo pilots on schedule. But Emma did hear Jeff Meyers tell Dave Mason that Emma didn’t really earn $50 a day. He certainly never had that conversation with Phill, so she was happy about that! Emma says that Phill told her the only reason Jenny and Emma were on “staff” at all was because they had to make their dads happy; they can’t afford to lose them and once they saw Phill’s daughter on staff, they wanted their daughters on staff too. Except that they don’t deserve to be on staff and Emma does, in her humble opinion! But Emma thinks Jeff Meyers knew how she was feeling because he even said something to her about not really having a choice, so she understands, but she still resents it.

Emma’s next paragraph complains about a guy who was there making a video of the event, and he was going to put Emma in it, but he didn’t because she doesn’t dress the way Jenny Klos and Emma Mason do. And, you guessed it, they were in the video. Yet more time wasted, Emma adds and, “Oh well, it’s all par for the course….”
(Pretty interesting comments for a child who claims she doesn’t want to be in the spotlight.)

Emma’s next paragraph goes on to say she is happy because Jeff has agreed to put V. a 5th grader on staff the next year, who will be Emma’s assistant.

Emma changes topics and says how she can tell her youth group friends, Jordan and Evan anything because they don’t listen, and then she talks about not finding a postcard to send “Lacey” in Americus, and talks about “Lacey’s” neat handwriting, and how her own handwriting is too loopy and swirly, and she says that “Lacey” is very pretty in her pictures, and then she signs off “Blessings and Love, Emma Kate.”

Letters to “Lacey” Part 6

Posted on February 9, 2015 by losingemma

Emma played soccer with the Jackson County Recreation Department in preschool. Emma Roey, Emma Kate Roey, Emma Katherine Roey

According to Emma, inbetween preschool and playing soccer at the Jackson County Recreation Department, her parents pressured her about college and we must have ruined her childhood! Emma Roey, Emma Kate Roey, Emma Katherine Roey

Part 6
The following day, Emma starts yet another letter to “Lacey”:

April 15, 2009

Emma starts off this letter telling “Lacey” about a dream she had about Jackson County Comprehensive High School. In her dream, she doesn’t want to go to Biology, so she goes with a friend to Gym instead. Emma says this is weird because she hates Gym, too. Everybody is playing basketball, but Coach Algard won’t let Emma play because he remembered that she will pass out if she does much of anything and in parentheses, she states that this is true-to-life. Then Emma goes on about riding the bus back to the main campus and she was glad she had run into her friend because no one had been nice to her that day and in parentheses writes “Just like my old school!” and she was so grateful that she was going to write a thank you note…….

(I feel the need to point out again that Emma was not the weak and frail little flower that she makes herself out to be, passing out at the drop of a hat. Here in the south, I guess we would say she got the vapors—-and for those of you that know me, I will pronounce it for you. There is no “R.”  Also, Emma was yet again the victim at school. No one was ever nice to her.)

April 20, 2009

Emma tells some cute stories about Sunday school, and complains about being “forced” into the Mother’s Day fashion show at church, and how she was always forced into it.
(One again the victim, Emma was asked to be in the fashion show, and the lady that asked her provided her with a top that came from her daughter’s shop. Emma also played the piano during the show. The next year, Emma volunteered to play the piano again. She loved all the attention she got playing music from Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera. There was another young man who played classical piano, and Phill and I were a little embarrassed when Emma monopolized the piano and this young man was standing there waiting to play.)

Emma talks about her friend Rob, and Rob’s little sister trying to get the two of them together and asks why does she seem to find cute little girls who idolize her and want to run her life at the same time? Is there any reason??? What did she do to deserve this??? Is God trying to show her that she really doesn’t need siblings???

Emma talks about her youth group meeting and how Jordan is mad at Rob, but they have no clue as to why, and how Jordan was in her own little world at the meeting with her itouch and didn’t even hear Rob calling her a loser. *SIGH* Emma says she has given up on understand her friends. It just doesn’t work.
Emma goes on to give an entertaining description of her Red Cross First Aid/CPR course that she has to take as part of her Health class. She claims to have had the weirdest instructor who kept telling them, “I can teach y’all this stuff, but ya’ll know half the time it ain’t gonna work.” She was also full of other encouraging sentiments like, “Them’s just pieces of plastic. Them’s dead…that one’s definitely dead…Dead on site!!” Emma claims the teacher yelled these things out randomly in the middle of CPR practice and also talked to the videos, “Look! Look! He done gone stuck a screw in ‘lectric box!! Everybody knows you don’t go sticking them things in ‘lectric boxes!! Course he’s gonna get shocked! He deserved it, too!…. He shoulda known she was havin’ a heart attack! Everybody knows that’s what happens fore they have a heart attack!!…Well what’s he thinkin’? He done gone and left his buddy in the middle of a river. Course he’s gonna fall in! Ain’t nobody there to help him neither.”
(My Goodness! I wish all my CPR classes had been this entertaining!)

Emma mentions getting a postcard from Arkansas that “Lacey” sent and talks about having to babysit and how she will have to watch the movie “Aquamarine” once again.

April 22, 2009

Emma talks about getting depressed again and seeing the little kids in the Sunday school class she assists with and says she can’t help but to think back to when she was that age and how they are seeing the world for the first time and they seem so content and happy. Emma says she honestly doesn’t have those memories. She remembers her parents talking to her about college when she hadn’t even started kindergarten. Everybody talks about how mature Emma was and how mature she is and she wonders if it is really as great as they make it out to be. She was listening to her friends talk, and whenever they talk about childhoods, Emma was always the responsible one. She feels like she had to grow up so fast, she never had time to be a kid. She was always thinking how she couldn’t wait to get into high school, to be a teenager, and now that she is here, she wonder’s what the big deal is. Then she looks at her future; her parents want her to finish high school in three years and get a head start on college. I apply for scholarships at least twice a week. She runs the youth group and her (adult) youth group leader admits Emma knows more about what’s going on that she (the leader) does. And through all this, Emma’s parents are behind her, pushing her to the limit and often well past it. Really, what are they so worried about? What’s the worst that could have happened….that she might have grown up to be normal?

April 23, 2009

Emma ends this letter with one sentence saying she is late getting it in the mail because she has been busy this week, and then adds “Write soon!.”

(Where is my violin? Teen angst and outright lies! I remember being a moody teenager myself, so I get that part, but her parents talking about college before Emma had started kindergarten? Let’s get real. A preschooler has no concept of what college actually is!
Emma may be referring to how when she was about 3-4 and would frequently stick a doll under her shirt and say, “Look, I’m having a baby!” and then perform the delivery and but the baby to her breast to nurse. Phill and I would ask Emma some questions and taught her how to reply. It went something like this:
Mom or Dad: And when are you going to have a baby, Emma?
Emma: After college. When I’m 30. And when I’m married.

Emma, sweetie, it was a joke. We weren’t putting pressure on you about college! Sorry if we scarred you for life!

Phill and I never had any intention of Emma finishing high school in 3 years. We knew that some homeschoolers were able to start college their senior year of high school and count it as both high school and college, and that was sort of a way homeschoolers got around needing a high school diploma to start college. We had thought Emma might like to to that when the time came, but we were not trying to rush her through high school.
After 10th grade, Phill and I considered letting Emma start college. Since she was interested in nursing, we looked into Gwinnett Technical College and let Emma go over and take a test to see if she could get in. Emma was the one who was dying to start college. 10th grade had been a pretty lousy year of Emma sitting in front of a computer for school everyday. We really did not want her to do school on line again. When she passed the entry test to Gwinnett Tech, we were definitely interested until the college told us Emma would have to take the GED to be allowed into college. I did some research and talked to other people, and Phill and I were not comfortable with Emma getting into college via that route. We’d heard too many negative things about having a GED instead of a diploma, so we decided Gwinnett Tech was out. Of course, Emma blamed me for not letting her start college. Oh, that evil mother, again!
As for the youth group, Emma definitely had some control issues. She liked running things, and she liked being in control. If they planned an event and she didn’t hear back from some of the kids as to who was going, she would call to find out. Emma wasn’t forced into this position. She kind of took over.
I have to laugh at the last few sentences. We had gone to a meeting at JCCHS and one of the speakers talked about all the scholarships out there and how one young woman applied for so many and ended up getting something like 80 scholarships. At first, I looked around at scholarships and encouraged Emma to apply for a couple that I thought she might be eligible for, but I gave up on that after about a week. You could not force Emma to do anything she did not want to do, and it was not worth the bother. At one time, Emma wanted to go to medical school and to go to Yale, and I thought if she was serious, she’d better be looking for scholarships, but I wasn’t going to be a Sandi McCravy and do it for her. Much to her credit, Sandi, (Sandra Brooks McCravy) applied for every scholarship for Derek that she could get her hands on and it paid off. Some of them were very small, like a couple hundred dollars, but hey, there’s a textbook! I was not near as dedicated to scholarships as Sandi was.
And who knew? Phill and I pushed Emma to her limit and well past it? Really? I guess I must have blocked out that part. While we did require she do her school work, we didn’t push Emma into anything.
What was the worst that could happen? That Emma might have brown up to be normal? I’m not even going to comment on that one right now. I’m sort of wondering how mom gets all the credit/blame for everything wrong in her life, but no credit for everything right? Oh, that’s right. Somebody has to be the bad guy.

From about 2nd grade up until she started high school, Emma said she was going to be a pediatrician when she grew up. She’d read a children’s book about Dr. Ben Carson, and that inspired her. I was amazed that she held on to that idea for as long as she did. Around 10th grade Emma was leaning towards nursing, but then with all the wonderful therapy she had, she decided to major in counseling. After what’s been going on in the news, I couldn’t help but wonder if Emma had ever thought about being a news anchor. I hear there might be an opening for Brian Williams’ job! Just a thought.)

Letters to “Lacey” Part 5, Medieval Times, Atlanta

Posted on February 6, 2015 by losingemma

If you are new to this blog, you may want to read the posts “In a Nutshell” or go to July 2012 and read “Sending out a Letter.” My daughter Emma Katherine Roey lied about a friend being raped and attempting suicide, claimed to have been molested by a priest, and then, just as her attorneys were about to file a law suit, Emma accused her mother (me) of physically abusing her and later of poisoning her with DDT. Emma claimed to have a toxicology report to confirm that her mother (me, again!) poisoned her, but would never turn over this report to my attorney. If you read through the blog, you will find many other examples of Emma’s lying. At one point, she even complained about the way her dad touched her and that he called her a “bitch” and a “slut” everyday. (I refused to listen to her when she talked about her dad like that.) As long as Emma continues with the lies, I will tell her story. Love and thanks to all of you who read and have written to me. If you have any questions or comments, please contact me at: losingemma@gmail.com Please continue to share the blog with others.

Emma and Kayla Benifield Weaver at Medieval Times, Atlanta 2009, Emma Kate Roey, Emma Katherine Roey, Emma Roey

Part 5, Medieval Times, Atlanta

On April 9th, 2009, Emma started another 4 paged, typewritten letter to “Lacey.”
After Emma’s mother so cruelly would not let her go with Kayla (Kayla Benifield Weaver) and her grandparents to Dollywood because she was too far behind in her schoolwork, Roy and Velda Benifield, Kayla’s grandparents from Martin, Ga, offered to take Emma with them to Medieval Times, a dinner show and tournament in Lawrenceville, Ga. This letter is mostly about that night and is a lot of great story telling. I don’t know if it is all true or if some of it is somewhat exaggerated. Emma came home that night, and told me in great detail about the whole evening, but when I read through this letter a few years ago, it seemed a little different than what Emma had told me that night, so I’m guessing this letter is a little fluffed up to make good story telling. I’m not going to go into this letter as thoroughly as I have with some of them because it just doesn’t matter. I will share a few parts so you can get a feel for it.

Emma talks about how she and Kayla are polar opposites because Kayla wants to stay in the crowd and watch people make fools of themselves, but Emma wants to jump right up there with them. Emma talks about a knighting ceremony where you could go up and kneel before the king and be knighted, except no one wanted to do it when they asked for volunteers, and Kayla muttered, “No you don’t!” and well, of course Emma did. She walked up on stage, which Emma calls her 2nd home and knelt before King Phillipe and was now the Lady of the Castle, and Kayla was totally and completely mortified to have to claim Emma. Emma says, honestly, you’d think she’d become a delinquent instead of a Lady.

Emma talks about going into the dungeon and how Kayla could not read the framed sheets of information, so Emma read them out loud and then talks about how after she read them, people around them clapped for her. Emma says she’s fine with people appreciating her drama when she is on stage, but was a little embarrassed to have an audience and not even know it.

After walking out of the dungeon, Kayla’s grandmother was there, waiting to ambush them with the camera and then in her lovely Southern Drawl declared rather loudly, “Girls! There ya’ll are! Have Ya’ll found ya’llselves any handsome boys to get ya’lls picture taken with?” Emma states that she was mortified and Kayla was ready to crawl into a hole.

Emma writes more on April 13 and April 14 and then finishes the letter.

Just a quick note about Kayla. Kayla was also involved in the Drama department at her high school, so I just can’t imagine her being as reserved and “mortified” as Emma makes her out to be.

Part 6 coming up next!

Losing Emma

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