Anyway, I was blown away by this beautiful necklace. Tory and I have had our ins and our outs. I can't stand her and she can't stand me.....then we both adore each other.
The really funny thing is that she and I are so much alike. Both of our mothers' didn't give a crap about us. (Tory's mother passed away exactly a week before her 17th birthday). We were both subject to verbal, emotional, and physical abuse. Tory's experiences were much worse than mine those. But we understand each other's scars and quirks.
She and I go from happy to hateful at the drop of the hat, but we are both working on that. We both want to be "NORMAL." ie NOT get ballistic because someone looked at us wrong. We are working on that....I here in Texas and she in South Carolina.
Because her mother and I were friends and neighbors and because I never knew what was happening to her as a child she holds a very special place in my heart. Most of it out of guilt...but, regardless, she is the child out of all the 5 kids (3 mine, 2 Jim's) that I want to hold and protect more than anything. Anyone who hurts her I just want to rip to pieces. No one knew what was going on in that house (even Jim because he was deployed while this was going on) and no one COULD have known. Tory's mom was one hell of an actor. She could have fooled everyone.....AND DID!!!! She had all sorts of psychiatrists, therapists, neighbors, teachers, etc believing that Tory had all these emotional issues and was basically just a demonic child. But the truth was she was being terribly abused at home while trying to protect her little brother to the best of her abilities. She was the mom to him.....and she protected and stood up for him. BUT NO ONE PROTECTED AND STOOD UP FOR TORY!!!!. And so, she's the one that I am most protective of. Jim has so much guilt over the things Dottie did to his children. He TRULY thought, while he was away in Honduras, Korea, etc, that even though he did not have a marriage (because Dottie hated him and everything about him) his kids had a roof over their heads and that they were being taken care of. Since her death we have found out that neither of those statements were true. At one point when Tory was about 9 (?) she just put Tory out of the house with a brown paper sack of clothes. I never knew this. Tory went to live with another family for about 3 months. Jim didn't even know this because he was in Korea.
And where was Child Services??? I guess they were in and out of the picture.....I still haven't put that whole picture together in my head, but Dottie TRULY could talk her way out of ANY situation.....and they would believe her!
I am now the step-mother to Richard and Tory and have heard all the stories from them...and the other members of the family. And to this day I cannot reconcile the Dottie that I knew to the Real Dottie that they lived with.
By the way, the necklace is tear shaped. I noticed that right away and mentioned it to Tory. She said it was because both of us have shed a lot of common tears in our lives.
And just the other day, she said "I love you" to me. And she NEVER says those words!!! And she has never said them to me.
That is a day I will never forget.
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