Hi Emma G!

For the past week, I've been planning two fun trips! Returning to Costa Rica (I think this will be my 4th time) and a trip to Antarctica! The Antarctic trip leaves from Argentina and we will get on a special boat that is able to brave small glaciers and ice-covered water. Not many people can go to Antarctica for a grand adventure so it will be fun to learn about this place and to meet other world explorers (which is sometimes just as fun and educational as the trip itself!).

Soon you will be able to adventure out, and I hope you do. There is a big, happy world outside of Florida and the U.S. to travel and be free! I'm sure school can feel like an adventure at times...all the activities you are involved in and the friends you must have! Remember that school is also a safe zone. If you need someone to talk to, find your favorite teacher or someone at school. They are able to help you. Do you have a favorite teacher? Know that they're on your side.

If there is an opportunity to go abroad -- or go anywhere -- as a part of a school trip, do it! You will learn about how good most people are in the world, about healthy interactions among people, and the ingenuity of communities. 

As always, wishing you safety and happiness 💕

Love,

Auntie Jo

It’s warm here in SWF

 Hi Emma Grace, 

Hope you are doing great!❤️   Yes I am in town and enjoying your warm weather.  I’m sure you’ve noticed more people and more cars on the road with all the northerners here. Instead of shoveling snow and freezing temperatures they find comfort in this climate.  You are so lucky.  Do you remember your first snow?   It was in Virginia at my house and Auntie Jo got you all bundled up and took you outside in the yard.  You were so funny.  Your eyes got big as saucers and just stood in the snow not knowing what to do.  You were so cute!  I’m glad I was around to enjoy those first experiences with you.  The innocent joy was beautiful. Your first Christmas tree was with us.  You grabbed for the lights that twinkled.  Amazing!  

Now that you are 15, I’m sure you’ve grown to be a lovely sweet girl.  I hope you smile a lot and have good friends.  Teenage years can be tough.  I remember mine and I’m sure I could be a handful for my parents and they had six other kids to worry about too.  My family had a 4 bedroom, 1 bath home high on a hill on the southwest side of Syracuse. My grandmother lived with us until I was in high school when she passed away.  She was wonderful and I loved her very much. The Cannon family lived across the street with 7 kids, the Sherlock family lived next door with 7 kids and practically everyone else on Colvin Street had children. One of my best friends in the neighborhood was Linda Shannon and there were 7 kids in her family too.  It was fun and my mother always had an extra place at the dinner table for one of our friends.  Most families all ate dinner together then.  Never in front of the tv like these days. We had one telephone, and when I was really young, we had a party line.  That means several families shared the same phone line.  So we would pick up the phone to call someone and we could hear someone else’s conversation.  We couldn’t use our phone until they were finished.  I was tempted to listen in sometimes but it was usually boring!!  I never played too many sports because in those days most of the sports were for boys. I was a cheerleader in high school and since I was flexible, I could really jump high.  I took tap and ballet lessons and loved to dance but I stopped taking those when I got older. Four of us girls performed for the elementary school one time.  We were called the Twinkletoes!  Being in the Girl Scouts was big in those days of the 1950’s so I was a Brownie first and then I was Girl Scout.  We had so much fun and I learned a lot.  I grew up quite a bit during those years. I was grounded in my faith, I chose good friends to hang around with but I was friendly to all. We had nuns as teachers in school so you didn’t cross them. I never got into too much trouble but I have to say, trouble back in the 50’s and 60’s is different than today.  We didn’t have the temptation of drugs, alcohol and smoking was only kids that were troublemakers.  We couldn’t talk back to teachers, parents or anyone.  If we did, we were sent to our room or worse.   We had consequences for our actions.  I still marvel now at the strength and love that my parents had for us with their spiritual guidance, patience and  mutual respect.  I hope your mother and her boyfriend treat you with the respect you deserve.  It must have been hard for you to lose your daddy so young.  You were seven.  I don’t know how you felt but I did know what it was like to lose a son, my child, so young.  And then to lose you when your mother took you away from us was almost unbearable. Keeping you isolated from us and all your old friends must have been so confusing for you.  We probably have some of the same feelings about those days. I hope your mother was kind and understanding of your sorrow and explained things to you.  Things you didn’t understand.  And I hope she told you the truth.  Someday you will come back to us and we will tell you the truth about everything . We miss you and love you enormously .  Hugs and kisses, Grammie

Hi Sweetpea

 Good morning, good afternoon and good evening honey!

Almost Christmas time and I’m here with Źan and Taj.  We decorated the tree and went shopping.  Went to a place called Jeremiah’s for an Italian ice.  I got a brain freeze 🥶.  Next time I think I’ll order a gelati because it’s so creamy.  Źan shared a little of his with me. Yum!  

I hope the hurricane didn’t flood your house.  People here have to be strong and help one another because so many families lost everything.  If your Daddy was living, he would be out there helping them, that’s for sure.  He was so resourceful!  He loved helping people. 

Well, I’m off to run some errands.  Going to the Botanical Gardens tonight.  Music and lights and being surrounded by natures beauty.  Love it.  Auntie Jo and I are going. 

I always look for you and hope you would recognize me.  It’s been so long that your mother has kept you from us. You are part of us and always will be.  Always loved and always will be a Foege.  

Dreaming of wrapping my arms around you, Grammie

Hi Emma

Hi little lady!

Thinking about you!

It's the Christmas season! 

We are all here for it... Grammie and Auntie Jo too!
Sending Love and see you soon!
Love, Auntie DDé

 

3 miles to Disney for your birthday!

Hi Emma G - I found one of the photos from our Disney trip in Sept. 2011 for your birthday :) We were 3 miles away from the entrance and I turned around from the passenger side of your dad's Chevy Tahoe and snapped this photo. Obviously excited! I bet if I went through your dad's photos, which one day you will have, I'd find a ton of photos from that fun weekend!

Hi Honey

 I know your birthday has come and gone and you are 15years old.  Hope it was happy!  So much time, so many stories, so many changes in our lives.  I hope they’ve been good for you.  Grandpa and I have been traveling recently and everywhere we go, our family and friends ask about you.  We are ALL waiting for you to come back to us. To care about, to love in person, to talk to you and ask you what you’ve been doing for these long years since you were cruelly taken from us.  I think we’ll all be surprised when we see each other.  We’ve all changed.  That’s life!  All good.   Love always, Grammie (703)577-5746

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Emma! I hope you had an amazing birthday on the 27th! 15! Will you get your Learner's Permit? It's exciting to drive :) I remember when your dad would quiz you on your birth date -- even at 3 years old you knew it. We also surprised you one year by going to Disney World, just your dad, you, and me. You got a pink Mickey Mouse hat and all sorts of fun gifts. And your dad had a cake sent to the hotel room and we sang happy birthday to you there. It was so fun. When I find photos, I will share them.

I hope you are well after the hurricane. That was a big one!

We are always thinking about you and wishing for your safety and happiness. Your dad loved you with every morsel of his heart and soul and I know he would want to be here with you. Everyone in Naples in the educational non-profit community that saw you grow up, that watched you color in coloring books in your dad's office, that gave you high-fives when you went to events with your dad, and genuinely loved seeing you, is wishing the best for you. You two were always together -- like glue. Know that you were and will always be super loved.