PARENT STORIES
Finding Strength, Finding Joy
On Letting Go to Let Him Triumph TWO MOMS SHARE VIEWS OF THEIR SONS’ MMA JOURNEYS.
Dr. Ann Murphy and her son John at the 2019 Senior Ring Ball
Elizabeth Royse and her son Noah at the 2020 Valentine Ball
At MMA for Valentine Weekend 2020, Elizabeth Royse was walking with another MMA mom when she saw a group of prospective parents taking a tour of campus as part of an open house. “We were full of smiles, but they were not,” she says, commenting on the difference that struck her. “You tour campus with a heavy heart – it's a hard decision to make. I thought – this was me, a little over a year ago. I would have never dreamed that Noah would end up at military boarding school.” She says the road getting here – to a place where her son Noah is happy and thriving – wasn’t easy, but it was worth it. “My time as part of the MMA family is one that I will be eternally thankful for,” she says. “I have my son back, and now he’s in an even better place than before.” “Our MMA journey began with several long phone calls to the Admissions office,” she recalls. “We had questions about the school, military life and how my son might transition into the environment. A few days before we visited the Academy, a local friend of mine who knew I was considering MMA suggested I speak with another Dallas mom whose son was in 20
The Eagle
his second year at MMA. I reached out and consequently spent over an hour on the phone, mostly in tears, with someone I had never met before discussing my very personal concerns and fears.
“After a four-hour tour of MMA, my son got in the car and, much to my surprise, without any prompting, he declared, ‘I like this school and this is where I want to go.’
“My life had instantaneously changed, too. The following week was spent un-enrolling him from his former school, turning in textbooks and his band uniform. I placed calls to tutors, youth group leaders and other extracurricular activities that he would no longer be attending so that they would be aware of his absence. It was beyond brutal and gut-wrenching. There was no one within my support system that could even possibly comprehend how I felt. My time volunteering for various school organizations would be no more. After a strong, 11-year presence within his school life, my son was now two states away — where I had no presence. And to make matters worse, my son was on Maroon Phase at the Academy, and I only heard from him on Sunday evenings for a short call.
“By the end of the next week, he was enrolled and moved into MMA. I was so immersed in all the changes he would be adjusting to that I never once stopped to imagine what coming home without him would be like for me. Within minutes of walking through my front door, I found myself in his room lying on his bed, sobbing for hours.
“Initially, he sounded great. I knew he was quite busy but it seemed as though he was fitting right in and was adjusting well. However, shortly after the Valentine Ball a year ago, he fell prey to behavior that led to tours, loss of privileges and a negative attitude. When I was on the phone with him one evening last April, he was very down on MMA, himself and everything in general.
“I felt such compassion, complete understanding and overwhelming empathy during that call and the subsequent talks that followed. We’ve only known each other a little over a year, and that mom is now one of my closest and dearest friends.
