In celebration of her 30th orbit around the sun, Emily's Texas friends have shared the following stories and notes.
Amanda Smith Doellman
I remember that Emily and Ashley were the first friends I made when I moved to the west side of Plano when I was in 8th grade. We became quick best friends and called ourselves The Three Amigos! The first time I ever stayed the night at her house I remember her waking up super early and doing yoga to a yoga VHS. Which of course seemed a little strange to me, haha. There are pics of the graduation party our ward threw us in 2006 on her Facebook page. We all look like babies!
I remember one specific story about Emily that totally cracks me up. When we were 15, her, Ashley Santiago and I wanted to go meet some boys at the new Spider-Man movie, which of course was PG-13. Well her parents didn't let her see PG13 movies so she was totally freaking out because we came up with a plan to tell them we were going to see My Big Fat Greek Wedding which is PG. Ashley and I had never even heard of that movie so we were worried we'd get busted because we didn't know anything about it. So we told them that's what we were seeing, and they bought it. So we went and met these boys at Spider-Man, and it was opening day so it was packed and we had to sit in the very front row and Emily was freaking out the whole time because she was so worried her parents were going to bust us. So we ended up leaving early and when we got back to her house they asked us how the movie was and we had to BS our way through an explanation of the movie we did not see. I don't know if they ever found out but it was funny because she was so worried about it.
I wish I could be there to celebrate with her! She is such an awesome friend and I miss her a ton! I hope she likes these stories.
Chris Pham
Dear Emily,
Welcome to the 30s club! It’s been far too long and I blame you and your beautiful family and adorable children for the loss of our relationship. But there are somethings that can never be struck from our collective history. So I’ve listed the top 18 memories for your Thirtieth birthday! I tried to get to thirty but your husband is very pushy... Happy birthday friend!
- I don’t want to beeeeeeeeee your exotic.
- Picking you up from your house on the way to school since we lived so close to each other.
- How you spelled your name “E-M-I-L-E-E” for the first few years that I knew you.
- Every bus ride we ever took my senior year to every damn speech tournament.
- Shopping at banana republic. (I have no idea why.)
- Your strong arm when you were imprisoned, caged in a Land foreign to the stretch of your wings.
- Your khaki pant suit. Killer.
- How you twisted your hair around your face and pulled it back into a bun always made me think of a Jane Austen novel. Probably because the new Pride and Prejudice came out, and you kind of looked like Jane.
- How we were kind of obsessed with that middle eastern bazaar shop at the shops at legacy.
- How we spent a lot of time at the shops at legacy.
- Prom 2005
- Burrrrrrrrrrrrka
- How I couldn’t just say “burr” when I was cold without adding the “ka” to the end of it for the first 10 years after high school thanks to you.
- Shoe shopping for your wedding via Facebook wall posts.
- How you were the first LDS person I ever knew and taught me what kindness looks like because you were always kind to me.
- Wham-bam-thank you-Pham was your brain child and I’m sad that it was lost to history.
- Everything Gilmore girls.
- Your friendship with Shaima. It always was something I remembered as such a powerful relationship between two women from two different backgrounds having such a strong friendship. And it’s stuck with me the last 13 years.
Cornelius Lee
Emily and I met in speech and debate in high school. Her and I qualified for nationals in 2005 and ended up placing 9th in the country in duo acting. Emily was such a talented and beautiful performer, and I’m pretty sure she was the best part of our duo!
Happy 30th Birthday, Emily!
Gemie Martin
When the Nelson family moved into our Ward years ago, Emily was an adorable little pre-school aged princess. I remember thinking that she had her father wrapped around her little finger, he doted on her so. Both parents were very attentive to this bright little dark-eyed beauty. She looked a lot like her mother and still does.I was privileged to watch her grow and develop through her years in Primary, where I had a calling and then into Young Women's where I also had a calling. Emily was a wonderful, impressive young lady. We were sad to see the family move from our Plano 3rd Ward.
We were delighted to see her finally find the special someone who is now her Eternal Companion and attend her reception here in the Dallas area. The beautiful princess became a beautiful bride, and then we can see keeping up with her on facebook, a beautiful, caring mother with children about the age she was when we first met her. Emily, we wish you, Joe and your children all the best life has to offer! Feel free to come visit us. We have lots of extra bedrooms!
Love, Sister Gemie Martin
Jon Martin
You are such an important friend to me. Though our paths have gone in separate directions, the time we spent together was so meaningful. I have so many great memories from working together at GPY. You were one of the first people to truly know me as myself, accepting me without hesitation even at a time when you were diving deeper and deeper into your faith.
Over the years, I have watched your family blossom into something amazing! Meeting Joe before you got married was an honor, of course, and your children seem so happy and loved and you seem so fulfilled in many ways.your 30s be just as joyous and prosperous as your 20s and may your many gifts serve you on your path to fulfilling your true purpose. I love you so much. Happy birthday!
Always, Jon Martin
Karen Wilbanks
One of my favorite memories is of a trip we took to Lubbock for UIL Regionals. Emily had been struggling with anxiety and we were working hard to keep things calm for her. Boy, was that a joke! Almost anything that could go wrong, did go wrong. We had a spectacularly bumpy flight. The rental car process took forever. We almost didn't get one! Then, another student's baggage didn't arrive, so we had to hurry to the Dillard's to get clothing. We had 30 minutes before the store closed and that's when we found out they have TWO Dillard's in Lubbock. One for men and one for women, and of course we were at the wrong one. We had to drive to the other end of the mall, fly through the store. By that time we were all starving and Chili's to Go messed up Emily's order, causing us to be even later getting our food. The next morning, we got to the contest to check in and found out that the new selection Emily had been working on at home was not on the approved list. She had 30 minutes to learn someone else's piece before she stepped into a room to perform. In spite of all that, she advanced to finals. We laughed a lot. Cried some, but mostly rejoiced that we survived that crazy weekend. Emily's strength in the best of times and worst of times has always amazed me.
Another favorite memory is when Emily Nelson brought Joseph Mayfield to meet me. I immediately sensed the loving connection they had, and I couldn't wait to see the life they would build. Finally, Emily made the transition to Emily Mayfield and though I haven't had the pleasure to visit with her in person, I have had the chance to watch her beautiful family blossom. Emily is still that wide-eyed beauty with a huge heart, and I wish her Happy Birthday!!!!!
Kate Lawrence
From the moment I meet that cute, bubbly, freckled face I was captivated. Emily is refined and devious all at the same time! I remember the day when she asked me to come look at a wedding dress she had found in an antique store. She saw so much more than I did, but when I saw it on her, she became a princess!!! Your wedding was magical! I love seeing your family grow on Facebook. You two are wonderful companions and parents. Glad I have had the opportunity to see your love blossom. Love to you both.
Mary Nguyen Walker
I’d say one of my favorite memories of Emily was from before we were friends and I’d told her I’d never seen the TV show “Friends”. She burned me a CD of hilarious lines she picked from the show to listen to, and I was instantly hooked on “Friends”, and being her friend! She’s one of the funniest, biggest hearted people I know. I’ll always remember how proud I was that she was my friend in high school because she is so gorgeous, both inside and out.
Shaima Abdalla
Emily,
Happy 30th! Hello from Switzerland, Geneva. We are at the airport, snowed in with three sick kids, so I'm sure you can imagine just how much fun this has been. I wanted to share with a story that I'm not sure I ever [have] about the first time we met. I had just come off a pretty traumatic two years of middle school, of just putting on my scarf, and at that time bullying was still pretty cool. And so I had my fair share of incidents and tears and situations at school and swearing that I was never going to school again. And there it was on the first day of Jasper Highschool, where I was sure that things were only going to go downhill from there – kids were meaner, girls were angrier, I was much more of an outcast - and there came up to me this girl, this white girl that wanted to be my friend, and I couldn't understand it. And it was because of you that you restored my faith in being able to be friends with people that didn't look like me.
We shared so many great moments in Egypt, and in getting to know each other's families, and in letting me teach you about my culture and my religion open mindedly. Because of it I was able to see that there were people out there that didn't see me as a threat or as an outcast or as an immigrant, but rather as someone who had a lot to share and give back ,and because of that I will forever love you and cherish you. I hope you have an amazing day, and I hope we get to see each other soon, and I miss you so much, and kisses to the kids. Bye!
Stetson Wellborn
The first time I met Emily was at a West Texas A&M speech camp in 2004. That first time I saw her I honestly thought she was the most beautiful person I had ever laid eyes on. Luckily, speech camp is the only place on Earth I was ever cool, so I knew I had a sliver of chance. In a normal scenario I don’t think I would have ever had the courage to approach her, but it worked out that she was from a school where most of my nerdy speech friends were from. I don’t remember everything that happened at camp, but I remember writing love notes, flirting with all my heart, making myself into a total fool just to be near this girl. I mentioned her looks but not her talent. If you’ve never seen Emily perform, it’s hard to describe how captivating her performances are, how much of herself she threw into pieces. She became the character she portrayed and moved you. She was funny and had smile that could light up your day. At the end of camp that year, Emily went back to Plano, TX, and we kept up with each other over the next year talking occasionally on the phone and seeing each other at speech competitions. We met up again at the 2005 West Texas A&M speech camp, and after that summer, we started dating.
At that point, I had waited for over a year to date Emily, which speaks to my point about what Emilee can do to people, and the lasting impression she can make. Within two weeks of knowing her, I was willing to go against my parents to drive to see her, destroy my first truck, and give everything I had. Within a year I still thought about her almost every day, I was willing to make my college plans a last attempt effort to be with her.I still have more memories of my time with her than anything else in 2000’s, I remember being forced to ask her to prom because dating her isn’t a foregone conclusion you are her date, Christmas together, and laughs and adventures. Emily’s brightness will drag you from whatever dark corners of the world you exist in. Only Joe’s brightness may come close to hers, fitting they should be together of all people. (FYI when I first met Joe I despised him, not for wrong doing, but because he was a great person, what a jerk.)
There many more stories I could tell, like how she thought she was losing her hair after having her wisdom teeth removed. To the meeting of her dogs, Clover and Myrtle. To meeting Joe and how happy she was then. How she made Joe plan her a surprise birthday party with my help. (God bless Joe, I don’t know how I would’ve taken it had a girl I am dating told me I planning a surprise party with her ex-boyfriend…) She only ever wanted the best for me, her family, and her friends. I learned a lot from her, mostly from my mistakes. But you can never think of Emily without smiling. So happy birthday (unless it’s still birth week celebrations), way to make it to 30!!!! May you live 100 more!
Suzie Speciale
When I first met Emily, I was a very green, very homesick missionary. This girl had all this light inside her bursting at the seams. As she opened her home and heart to us (and her amazing laugh, incredible food, best beauty tips and cutest dogs ever) I found myself unconsciously bringing that light to others. We first came to her door to help give a little direction, but ended up receiving instead. My homesickness melted away and like magic my head was back in the game. Thank you, Emily, for that friendship and light I so desperately needed at such an important time of my life.
Vanessa Western
I have many fond memories with Emily. They include ninja/pirate parties, Rock Band in your living room, and our visit out to Cali while I was pregnant with my oldest. I was especially proud of my first time putting a kid down for a nap which happened at Disneyland on that trip with Claire.
The time with Emily that may have most impacted me may have been the months I spent with Emily while she was pregnant with Claire. Emily was my first close friend to get pregnant and while I was really excited for her, I really had no idea what was going on. She kindly educated me about what she was going through and all of the different plans you have to make for your baby and yourself. When it was my turn a couple years later, I was so grateful for her empowering perspective. What really struck me at the time was how CHILL she was being about the whole thing. I was like, "You're growing another HUMAN INSIDE YOU." and she was like, "yeah, it's cool, right?" I was blessed to have such a lovely mother and friend in my life.
Happy 30th Emily!!!!!
Zac Kinnaird
Hello.
Happy birthday, Emily. This is Zac. I remember my first impression of you was
that I was a little intimidated because you were very funny and very smart and
very insightful, and I didn't want to seem like a dumbass in front of you. You
gave me the impression that you were very cool, and not in the "school
spirit" way, but in the "I wish I could be her friend" way. I
got to see you hanging out with all the Speech kids, and I was always very
jealous. I was thinking, she must be saying something really hilarious that I
would need to know several references to understand. So I remember in English
class, we were in one or two English classes, they would ask for participation,
and I couldn't... I was always nervous whenever answering partially because I
knew you knew what you were talking about, and so I always enjoyed your
commentary there. That was always my first impression. So it makes me really
happy now that we are friends, and I get to hang out with you whenever we are
in the same city. And I hope you have a wonderful birthday!
Comments
Post a Comment