\u201cMost people can think of at least one bad memory with everyone in their family. I honestly can\u2019t think of one with her. Because she couldn\u2019t have kids of her own, she always made us feel like we were hers. She loved us that way, and I\u2019ll forever be grateful for that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lainey Parton recalled a particularly special moment with Dolly.<\/p>\n
She continued: \u201cOne memory I\u2019ll always hold onto is when she asked me to sing with her on her @smokymountaindna album. I was a freshman in high school and SO nervous.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut she had a way of making me feel like nothing bad could happen. She made me feel safe, confident, and like I belonged right there beside her. (sic)\u201d<\/p>\n
The 9 to 5 legend supported her niece\u2019s dreams, helping to launch her beauty career.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs I got older, she continued to believe in me.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I told her I wanted to go to beauty school, she never questioned why I wasn\u2019t going to college. She told me she couldn\u2019t see me doing anything else. She financially supported me through school and helped me get my career started.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe didn\u2019t just tell me to chase my dreams; she helped me get there.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m so thankful I said yes to the opportunities and memories I got to share with her as my Aunt Dolly, including being in a movie with her. I\u2019m so glad I have those moments to look back on now. I have things I can watch, hear, and hold onto when I miss her.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added that it \u201cstill doesn\u2019t feel real\u201d that Parton has died.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to miss her voice, her laugh, her hugs, and just knowing she was there. I\u2019m even going to miss those 4am calls, and I\u2019d give anything to see her name pop up on my phone again.\u201d<\/p>\n
She concluded by thanking everyone for their love and support, while expressing how lucky she felt to have the I Will Always Love You artist in her life.<\/p>\n
Lainey Parton said: \u201cThank you to everyone who has reached out, sent messages, flowers to my house, or done any of the little things to show me love. I\u2019ve noticed every single one, and they\u2019ve meant more than you know.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel incredibly lucky that I got to call her my granny. Thank you for always believing in me, loving me, and making me feel like I could do anything.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love you, Granny. Always.\u201d<\/p>\n
– BANG Showbiz<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cMost people can think of at least one bad memory with everyone in their family. I honestly can\u2019t…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":585559,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1558,83890,13657,36473,25014,156,10109,15167,111,139,69,28720,28029,61],"class_list":["post-585558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-been","tag-beside","tag-carl","tag-dean","tag-dolly","tag-entertainment","tag-husband","tag-laid","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-parton","tag-rest","tag-to"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=585558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/585559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=585558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=585558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=585558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}