Tuesday, January 28, 2014

The daughters of Wendy Davis have had enough!

After hearing about the absolutely horrendous attacks against their mother, the daughters decided to respond.

This courtesy of NBCDFW:

Open Letter from Dru Davis  

My name is Dru Davis and I am Wendy Davis's daughter. I hate that I feel the need to write this, but I have been reading and hearing so many untrue things about my mom and I want to set the record straight. And sadly I feel the need to be crystal clear on the malicious and false charge of abandonment as nothing could be further from the truth. 

My mom has always shared equally in the care and custody of my sister and me. My mom had my sister at 19 and although she was technically married for a short period of time, she was handling almost everything on her own. She was working 2 jobs regularly and going to school. She met my dad when Amber was still very young. They had an amazing love that I witnessed for many years. Unfortunately, it didn't last, like so many love stories don't. 

I can tell you that my mom was a remarkable mother and continues to be so to this day. She was there on my first day of school and my last, and so many days in between. She never missed a school performance or a parent-teacher conference. Even if that meant she had to miss something else important. My sister and I were always her first priority. She was there when I needed her and even when I thought I didn't. My mom was my Brownie Troop leader. I still remember camping out in the backyard with my troop after our trip was cancelled because of bad weather. She was also my field hockey team mom during my senior year of high school, not to mention that she went with me to every single field hockey camp, tryout, program that I ever had. She helped me sort through college possibilities, helped me with my applications and visited colleges with me. 

I will never forget our drive to Colorado when she was dropping me off as a freshman at Colorado College. I cried the entire way. I am surprised she made it through that one. And after we got there, she stayed for days making sure every detail of my room was perfect until I finally had to tell her to leave. 

My mom has been my sounding board for everything in my life, from resumes and papers to helping me with relationships. She was and is an amazing mother and has been the greatest role model I could imagine. Whatever happened, whatever difficult things she and my dad went through, she was always there. And I knew I was loved by her, regardless. 

Yes, she went to law school after my sister and I were born. We lived with her the first semester, but I had severe asthma and the weather there wasn't good for me. My parents made a decision for my sister and me to stay in Texas while my mom kept going to school. But that doesn't mean she wasn't there for us. She traveled back and forth all the time, missing so many classes so that she could be with us. Her friends were such a big help. Especially her third year, when she would only go to school two weeks out of the month and her friends would share class notes so she could try to keep up while she was home with us in Fort Worth. 

I love that my mom went to law school and was dedicated to both her work and us. Watching her work so hard to achieve something great has been one of the most important lessons in my life. To this day, I watch my mom greeted and hugged by people who love her and are thankful for things she has done for them. I am proud of her for that. Both of my parents made sacrifices to make education happen for all of us, my sister and me included. And both of them have been great role models for what it means to care about people in the world. 

Open Letter from Amber Davis

My name is Amber Davis and I am Wendy Davis’ oldest daughter. I have spent the past few days reading the ludicrous comments that people have shared on social media about my mother and our family. It is a shame that those who don’t know us feel the need to comment on the details of our lives as if they've lived them. I have a hard time understanding how such hate and negativity can result from one person’s false accusations. 

My mother had me when she was very young, a kid herself. And although she was married for a short period of time, parenthood was her sole responsibility. Yes, we lived in a trailer. Does it matter how long? Not to me. Even though some people have tried to question my own memories; I do remember the trailer, as well as the apartments that we lived in during the years that followed. I know that I was my mother’s first priority and that she wanted a better life for me than the one she was living. She worked 2 jobs and went to community college at night. She refused to repeat the life her family struggled in growing up. 

When I was a toddler, she met my step-dad, Jeff. They shared an immediate connection and I started to realize what it was like to have a real family. They married shortly before I turned five. Not long after they married they had my sister, Dru, the biggest baby I have ever seen. My parents had an amazing marriage for many years. They challenged each other and pushed each other to want more out of life. 

After graduating at the top of her class at TCU, she went on to Harvard law school. Dru and I lived with her the first semester but our parents soon realized that it would be better if we stayed in our childhood home in Texas, be around extended family and attend our regular schools. This was a decision made by both parents. I have recently heard the phrase "abandoned" quite often in the past week. That our mother "left us to be raised by our father" while she went on to pursue her education. Not only is this ridiculously unfair; it's completely untrue. Dru and I have always been her number one priority. Always. And every decision our parents made was with our best interests at heart. We had an amazing support system while she was at Harvard and she was constantly traveling back and forth from school to be with us. I’m proud that my parents were able to make this arrangement work. People should be less concerned about who paid for what and pay more attention to the fact that she was accepted to Harvard law school, a dream she believed was unachievable. 

People have come to know Wendy Davis the politician. But I want people to relate to Wendy Davis, my mother. I have a bond with my mother that is unlike any other. Even as a 31 year old adult, I will forever be referred to as her “Punky Brewster.” She is my best friend - the one I can confide in without judgment. I look up to her and rely on her for guidance and support, even to this very day. She is my rock and has always been a role model in my life. 

My mother has achieved so much despite the odds. Her strength and desire to further her career is an inspiration and a quality I admire most about her. She has always had my full support and I am so proud of her accomplishments. She is a remarkable mother. I don't think she gives herself enough credit sometimes. 

Our family has gone through difficult times just like many others. That’s not news. That's life. I'm sure many people can agree that divorce is certainly not an easy thing to experience. At that time, I was a young adult in college and Dru was in high school and to be clear, no one “lost or gave up custody” of either one of us. But no matter how difficult it was, both of our parents were there for us. And no matter what happened within our family, our mother always made it known that we were and remain the most important thing in her life.

Damn!

I am going to go out on a limb here and say, though they may have had a little editorial help, that these letters were not ghostwritten for these two impressive young women.

Perhaps somebody should tell Bristol Palin that THIS is how it is done. 

32 comments:

  1. Anonymous4:20 PM

    You can count on Nancy French to hide behind someone's blog.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous4:23 PM

    Bristol has not the intellect to comprehend...........just like her mommy......

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous4:31 PM

    Be sure to tell Bristol. I am not sure she's learned to read yet. Homekoolun and all that hardass workin' whatnot.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous4:37 PM

    There's no use telling Bristol anything: She's as deaf to logic and reason as a granite statue (and just as responsive to same.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. PalinsHoax6:19 PM

      Seems to me that a granite statue has ALOT more warmth and personality than Mini Ol' Doodah.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous4:44 PM

    Good for them. We now have Wendy's ex-husband and her daughters chiming in. Wendy must be very proud of her daughters (as they obviously are of her).

    What are these bullies going to do now, go after these two young women?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous4:54 PM

    Wow, great letters from both daughters and what people are missing here, and by that I mean Bristol the Gorilla (DWTS), is that both parents made decisions on what was best for the girls. It wasn't one sided. Bristol does her best to keep Levi out of Tripp's life. If she were such a great mom don't you think she'd be thinking of what's in the best interest of her child?

    Message to Brissy the Pissy: You're such an incompetent mother, stop judging others...you big piece of Shit!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous4:55 PM

    Bristol is the last person to give any one parenting advice. I remember the letter that she wrote to Melissa Rivers before their "Wife Swap." Bristol said that Tripp needed to be bribed with popsicles. He was a holy terror. He ruled the roost. It sounded as if it was all Tripp's fault. Then, in one week, Melissa had Tripp doing chores and checking them off on his chores chart. Then, Bristol turned to the readers of her blog to ask for parenting advice.

    Most of us learn the basics of parenting from our own parents, our role models. So, Sarah was not much of a role model for Bristol. There are books, there are parenting classes, there is a ton of advice on line. If Tripp had play dates with other kids, that's a good chance for Bristol to network with the other moms.

    But it looks as if Tripp is raised by that blond baby sitter, the other woman in the selfie, the photo where Tripp doesn't like hanging with the girls at the Monster jam. (Remember Sarah's advice to hold a fish). Bristol has both the money and the baby sitter, an enviable position where she could go to college, if she wanted to. Many people do want to go to college but they don't have the money, people to look after their kids and an influential mother who could get them into the school of their choice. Wendy Davis went to Harvard Law School. Bristol's classes in skin care meet three times a week. Seriously, doesn't anyone in that family aim higher, want a high education, want to travel, want to learn something, want to learn, grow and mature? No, they will remain ignorant, making fun of a woman who raised two intelligent daughters who wrote glowing letters about their mother.

    As for Bristol's role model, Sarah Palin-- I'll let her parenting speak for itself. Her three oldest kids seem to act out, committing vandalism, drinking, taking drugs, and getting pregnant while in high school. Most kids in high school do not do these things. Maybe Bristol should spend a little more time thinking about her own mother instead of Wendy Davis.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous2:38 AM

      Most of us learn the basics of parenting from our own parents, our role models. So, Sarah was not much of a role model for Bristol.

      If you were raised by shitty parents, you have a choice - to not be a hitty parent. My parents were neglectful and my mother was abusive. I am neither. I didn't have my kids til my mid 30s, after therapy and worked out all my shit. I do not think Bristle has the smarts or world experience to work her issues out . Her children are paying the price.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous6:36 AM

      I doubt if Bristol could get into any college other than one without entry standards.

      Delete
  8. Anita Winecooler4:57 PM

    Forget Bristol, the entire Palin Heath klan can't put together a structured essay in Standard English.

    Wendy has much to be proud of on her cv, but I'd bet what means most to her is the best interest of these two fine young, intelligent women she's raised. They have quite a role model. Bristol and her siblings never cut the apron strings, and depend on mom for everything.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous5:03 PM

    Gee, Bristol, why don't you tell the whole world just how your mother shipped you off to Aunt Heather while you were pregnant in 2007. You remember, the Mono defense. Then mysteriously in January 2008 you reappear in Juneau for the State of the State address looking oh so thin, but with huge breasts. Then low and behold Mommy Dearest announces she's pregnant in March of 2008 and you head back to the tent to get another child going. Sweetie, you might just want to keep your big jaw shut because you may cause some unpleasant things to come out that will really highlight the Palin hypocrisy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous8:58 PM

      All of that stuff is OK because Bristol didn't have a husband who paid for her education at Harvard. Oh, I forgot, Bristol didn't go to Harvard or any other college or university. She didn't have a husband. But she did have a rich, influential mother who bought her a truck and and condo in Anchorage, put her on DWTS, got her speeches and a book deal, a reality show and more things that Bristol never worked for and never deserved.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous6:57 AM

      Bristol hasn't even TRIED to go to any of the FIVE colleges her mom tried on but couldn't fit. All the Palin kids can aspire to is superficial trades. No wonder ALEC and conservatives want to push secular, charter and jobs schools, it's a low bar and asks society to lower their expectations.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous5:06 PM

    Last June, Bristol appeared on Wife Swap and her parenting skills were on display. Here is a report on how Bristol was doing after wife swap-- from her own blog:

    Lastly, some of you have asked how Tripp is doing on the discipline system that Melissa started while she was here. Actually, we didn’t keep that up! However, you’ll be happy to know he’s been better about sleeping in his own bed though!

    I’ve been getting him to bed at the same time every night, which is a huge success for us. I’ve also been better about setting a schedule and actually keeping to it.

    Plus, I’ve been cooking dinner every night for the last few weeks.

    I’m still learning how to do this whole motherhood things well. But I’m so proud I’m actually trying!

    Tripp is better about sleeping in his own bed. He is finally getting to sleep on schedule. Bristol is finally cooking a few dinners, and she is starting to get the hang of that motherhoood thing. That was last year when Tripp was 4 years old! What took her so long? When my grand children were four, they taught themselves how to read and write, they helped their mother cook dinner, they cleaned up the dishes, and their chores involved keeping their rooms tidy. Poor Tripp.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous6:55 AM

      Bristol's been mothering her siblings all her life cause mom was too busy arguing about getting the government out of the trash business and find out who paid for coffee or where the pen went during city
      council meetings.

      Very common for Valley girls to get pregnant as soon as they can so they can get out from their family's house and play house on their own.

      So, why is this Mothering thing new to Bristol?

      Delete
  11. Anonymous5:20 PM

    Yes, Wendy Davis has daughters to be proud of! (And vice versa.) Seeing that Amber is 31, I had to Google Wendy's age -- she will be 51 in May! -- nearly a year OLDER than $arah. Holy cow! But Wendy looks at least 10 years YOUNGER than ol' $arah! And this probably deserves repeating ...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. PalinsHoax6:24 PM

      Ha! Ha! Haggard Palin looks 61 and Lovely Wendy looks 41. Love it.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous5:20 PM

    think the skank white trash palin's too narcissistic to realize she drew the short fukin' straw of life ?

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous5:57 PM

    So wonderful to see such eloquent responses to the malicious posts about Wendy Davis. Palin has to be squirming and fuming to see such wonderful, talented, and educated young ladies defending their beautiful and strong mother....Palin and her ilk can't even come close to the class shown by the Davis family!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous6:16 PM

    Fake Palin family
    Grifting the ignorant
    Claims god
    Means money
    President Obama
    I never think of Sarah Palin
    Wendy Davis
    Bristol Who
    Bye bye

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous6:32 PM

    Yesssssssssssssssssssss! Thank you, daughters. Well done! And just as I thought.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous7:09 PM

    In one version of the story, Sarah's encounter with Rice took place in her sister Molly's dorm room at the University of Alaska Anchorage. "She hauled his ass down," a friend says, "but she freaked out afterward. Hysterical, crying, totally flipped out. The thing that people remember is her freak-out, how completely crazy she got: I fucked a black man! She was just horrified. She couldn't believe she'd done it."

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous10:01 PM

    Thank you, Gryphen, for putting these beautiful letters in a post on your blog. I'm in my 60's and I still miss my mother, who was brilliant, educated, and a force in our community in New Jersey. Their letters reminded me of my own mother, who was a language major at Middlebury and only spoke French during her last two years in the Chateau at that college, and my love of her accomplishments and intellectual ability. As a daughter, you know if your mother is there for you; fortunately for me, I knew, she was, and I adored her.

    Their tribute to their mother reminded me of my own, and I knew their love for her. My darling, my precious darling, our violins, opera, ballet, Europe, French, Latin, washing our stockings out in bidets, your crying when I went to graduate school. I love you still. Those erudite and gracious girls do, too.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous1:43 AM

    I only wish that they would point out the double standard. If it had been their father who travelled to Harvard and their mom who stayed home with the kids-no one would have said a thing about it.

    ReplyDelete
  19. We should all be so lucky to have family relationships like that. Beautiful letters!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Our Lad4:28 AM

    A wonderful tribute from these two young women to their unfairly defamed mother written to another young woman who didn't write what was credited to her and,likely as not cannot read and/or comprehend what the kerfuffle is all about. Between doing the tango dressed as an ape ,consorting with bling sporting,backwards ball cap wearing,blunt hoovering miscreants,and modeling sleepwear from Vincent's Of Greenbay,young Ms. Palin had to skip Basic Understanding Of Everything 101. Maybe next semester.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous6:51 AM

    Sarah Palin has been on her self-serving ego-trip since Bristol was 2 years old. Even with knowing how demanding just being a city council member was, and how it taxed the family, Sarah still went after it all, the power hungry opportunist conniving for more.

    Three babies later, kids still in school, still needing their mommy and their 2 weeks on - 2 weeks off daddy, they still went after a job that would require a move to Juneau.

    Whenever challenged by legitimate criticisms of her performance and actions with her family held as a shield in front of her, she'd say voters needed to replace that critic/leader. Then, in a pattern of stunning cognitive dissonance, she'd say rural Alaskans had to make sacrifices to get a job, especially by moving away from family, like Todd, to work the slope and whatnot - while she unilaterally moved the capital to Anchorage so she could work from home and 'be' with HER family.

    McCain's team shouldn't have picked a mom of a special needs infant, and a mother of a special needs infant should have 'blinked' at the opportunity to take one of the most demanding jobs in the world. That obviously messed up family, with a woman who has no boundaries with her children and treats them like buddies and puts her battles on their shoulders, creating an anti-social warrior body son, pregnant daughter, vandalizing daughter and flippant younger - who but that Little Shop of Horrors clan gets to attack the President and his daughters and Wendy Davis for their parenting? That the Davis girls have to respond is a so sorry a state that is the Palin-level discourse in public service and the culture wars.

    It is to laugh.

    ReplyDelete
  22. This is why everything those uneducated women on the right (HS?) say to put down women who actually work hard to get ahead and educate themselves should be massively discussed. They are the opposite of the women who should be in the public eye, but can be used as an example of wrongness for voters. Who wants their daughters to live in a world where getting a law degree or any degree is wrong? The hypocrisy of the Palins is so thick people will eventually choke on it. They will keep popping up and making statements to get attention and money over and over, use a mallet on them like wack a mole. It’s like not discussing sex with a teenager and thinking everything will be OK with the information they get from their friends, no you have to point out how to prevent pregnancy, that boys often tell others they had sex with you, decisions must be made carefully about sex, the details about STDs, how to access birth control, that as a teen falling in love happens easily and what will happen if the girl does get pregnant. If people like the Palin women are the loudest voices and are left that way many will think they are the right voices, that is how unfortunate the intellects are in this country. If others had not spoken out about Bristol Palin's blog post Wendy Davis' daughters may have remained silent.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous2:17 PM

    Nobody on the right is saying that bettering herself by going to school is bad. No one says that deciding in the family that the better parent to have custody be the dad is bad.

    What the right say is that it is funny that Wendy Davis ran on a platform of how hard it is to be a single mother, when she doesn't have custody of her kids. I don't care how she lived her live. I don't care that she sounds like she worked hard, and worked to be a part of her daughter's lives. I am happy that she did, actually. I think that both parents being part of their children's lives is important, and beneficial.

    The problem comes in that she misrepresented herself. If she would have been more honest initially, there wouldn't have been any discussion at all.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anonymous3:39 PM

    2:17 - you are wrong on the basics facts. First, her point was not how hard she had it as a single mom. Rather, Wendy Davis is saying that she, like so many Texas women, faced obstacles as a young mother. But with opportunities available to her, she was able to lift herself and her family out of poverty. And she wants those same opportunities to be available today. Second, this whole BS about her not having custody is just BS. The divorce happened when her youngest daughter was 14 and allowed to choose where she wanted to live, and the oldest daughter was in her 20's. So, custody? No. Wendy Davis did not lose custody of her children. Plus, that divorce was years after she graduated from law school. The struggle to get an education and make a future for her family took place when she was very much raising her two daughters, sometimes on her own, sometimes with her second husband.

    Bottom line, she did not misrepresent anything. It is the Republicans and Palinites who want to create this false narrative so they have something they can attack since they clearly have no rational response to Wendy Davis' platform. .

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous4:46 PM

    I don't give two hoots about the Palins. I don't like her, and don't make my every breath about her. I don't compare the politicians I like and don't like to each other. I look at them by their own merits. From what you said, She struggled to get her family out of poverty. Is that right? Well, from what little I read, and it has been just a little, I understand that her second husband, and father of her second child about 5 or 6 years apart from the first, was well off. It sounds like she didn't struggle her way out, she married her way out.

    Like I said, I don't care if she did. More power to her, if she found love, regardless of his financial well being. But to say that she struggled her way out of poverty, is misrepresenting her situation. As I understand, from this blog, and a few others, she did struggle as a young teenage mom of 21, and found love later, and was able to finish her schooling, then (or somewhere along the line) got divorced, and he got the kids. I'm glad she stayed an important part of her kids' lives, period. I would have a lot more respect if she didn't try to sound like something she's not.

    I COMPLETELY understand about the struggles of being a young mother, and what it means, but I don't agree that SHE brought her family out of poverty.

    ReplyDelete

Don't feed the trolls!
It just goes directly to their thighs.