Natasha Cornett

NATASHA’S LIFE

Natasha was a flirt in her first baby picture. Maybe she knew she would be in movies someday so she wanted to make a good impression for the first one. The picture in white was one of the first in uniform. The picture in the middle was the day she graduated from high school with honors I might add. That was a happy and sad day for me. The graduation ceremony was beautiful. If you look through all the pictures here you will see a picture of her giving her speech in her Cap and Gown. I wonder if she still has that speech someplace in her papers or books she has collected. She can’t keep too much stuff because they just have a small space for belongings. She was such a good baby. I don’t remember her crying about anything but of course she probably did. I don’t know how old she was when I noticed that her feet would be wet when I put her in her playpen and I couldn’t figure out where the water was coming from because her diaper would be dry. She was trying to pull up to the side of the playpen when her feet slipped and there was water under her feet. I took her to see Dr. Page after that and he checked her all over and he told me he thought she had a heart murmur. That was the worst news for me. He made an appointment at UK Hospital and that was a monthly thing after that because she had a hole in her heart that didn’t close up after birth. We had to wait until she was a year old before the Drs. there could do the surgery to close the hole up. I didn’t know at that time but her heart was enlarging all this time. Natasha was 16 months old when they did the surgery. She made it through just fine. The first time I saw her after the surgery she was still hooked up to all the tubes and needles all over. Velina was with me and she told me she thought I had better sit down because I was scared to death. I went back to see her in 3 hours and they had removed a lot of the equipment and here she was awake and reaching for me. I couldn’t believe it. She did a remarkable recovery. She was walking around that bed the next time I saw her. When I sit down to write more, my mind sort of blacks out. I started back to work when Natasha was two years old. I left her in daycare here in Pikeville while I worked. The first day she cried a little but the second day she didn’t notice when I left. She made friends easy and all the children seemed to like her. She always seemed to want to help someone. I missed being with her but I had to work and the people that took care of her where great. I wonder about our like at that time because we missed a lot of love time. She was in the Model City Day Care until she started First Grade. I even managed to go to night school and graduated with an Associate Degree. The same year I graduated I found out I had cancer in my left breast. I went back to work after surgery. Natasha went to Betsy Layne Grade School and she was a grade A student even though she and I both had some illnesses to go through. She had asthma real bad in the third and fourth grade but she overcomes that too. We both seem to be going through rough times but we made it. I guess the bad times started when she turned thirteen. I think that was when she started listening to her friends instead of her mom. I don’t know if other moms went through this or not because I had to work and wasn’t close to any of her friend's moms. I tried to do the best I could but the pressure finally got to me. I remember one night I was having a real hard time getting to sleep so I took a sleeping pill. I remember taking one more but when I finally came to myself I had taken the whole bottle. I don't remember taking them and I guess if it hadn't been for my neighbor I would have died. I didn't go to the hospital and I hate that Natasha had to find me that way. She told me that she slept outside my door that night, not knowing what to do. I thank God that He was watching over us both that night. Natasha went to school the next day and she mentioned what had happened to one of her teachers but they must not have believed her because no one came to the house to check on me or called. Maybe that is when Natasha started not liking school. I believe she told teachers other times when things had gone wrong at home but no one called or came by to see what the problem was. Natasha was soon losing interest in school and in the eighth grade she was making failing grades but I received no letters or calls from her teacher. If only someone had called me or written me maybe I could have talked to Natasha at that time and we could have tried to quit going against each other all the time. When Natasha was 13 she had her first birthday party. She invited boys and girls and she had quite a few to attend. She had asked me what kind of games they should play and I remembered my 13th birthday party and told her what we did for games. Most of the children had never heard of the games I mentioned but I think they enjoyed playing post office and spin the bottle. I can’t remember what kind of cake I had made for her but I bought enough Pizzas to feed the whole eighth grade. All the teens knew where I was at all times and all they had to do was come and get me if they needed help with anything. I believe they all had a good time but a few of the moms were upset with me and wouldn’t let their children come to my house anymore because they played post office. It was a very innocent game that involved one kiss between girl and boy. I think in a way, this led Natasha to change her style of clothes. Before this Natasha always wore the preppy clothes and now she started wearing skater clothes, mostly boys pants, tee shirts with logo on the front and back, long sleeve cotton shirts that belonged to her dad. That is when the different color hair dye came out and she tried a few of those colors and then she cut one side of her hair short and left the other long. The walls in her room in the trailer were used for writing poems, drawing pictures, and leaving your autograph. It was her room and I let her do what she wanted to do when it came to the walls. Her hair would grow back and there was always paint to go on the walls. I knew Natasha had changed and we both were going to Mountain Comprehensive Care during all of this. I hated it when she turned 16 and had been in three different schools and was still not trying to pass any classes so when she said she wanted to quit I let her. I was hoping she would later take the GED classes.

I will stop here and come back later and try to finish the story. It is hard putting it all down on paper or here on the computer. The memories all come flooding back and it hurts my heart. I wanted so much more for her. I still do.

Natasha met Stephen Cornett when she was probably 16. He became her best friend and believed when she married him that everything would be ok with her. The marriage only lasted 6 months, he brought her down to my home to get more of her things to take back to his families home. He carried out some things and then I saw him drive off. Natasha came from her room looking for him and I told her that he left. Natasha was never able to find him after that. She got the notice in the mail that he had filed for Divorce. She was devastated. You know the rest of the story. It was told in all the papers and in all the documentaries that came out about her. The things told about her saying she was satan’s daughter and that she was a witch was brought into her case by Eric Conn. He used her for publicity for himself and he got it. That was the beginning of his downfall. I guess he sees that now or I hope he does. He did unrepairable damage to her case. If only he had not come into the picture maybe she wouldn’t be where she is today. Believe in her, she never committed murder. She tried to stop Jason but how was she to do that all by herself. God in His own time will set her free. Children out there, listen to your parents when they tell you someone is bad for you. They know from deep feelings that they have in their hearts for you. They love you.. Thank you for reading this and please take heed when you make friends. They are not always on your side.

God Bless you all for being there for Natasha.

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