Ode to Annie

Tomorrow is Annie's birthday. Annie was born on Long Island to teacher/farmer parents. Her father's people were watermen on the Sound dating back to the 1600's. By the 1960's the Hamptons had gotten so fancy and the taxes so high, Annie's parents decided to set out for the frontier of the Delmarva Peninsula on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Now, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge was built in the 1960's, so I suspect Annie's family was one of the first to migrate over it. They liked the fact that it was flat, very much like the land they left in Long Island. No foo-foo folks in that part of Maryland. The phone book had pages and pages of the same family names, and people were very independent. Laura, Annie's mother, was cooking some barbecue by the roadside one day while her husband was doing some work, and people started asking to buy her food. The family restaurant was established shortly thereafter. Now Annie was the oldest child and was often the surrogate mother, taking care of her brothers and sister while Mom and Dad ran the restaurant, Whiskers and Wife (Dad had a beard). When the kids were old enough they all worked in the place. Annie was very smart, and the academic world lured her away from the beach life. She wound up in Kentucky, where she was working on a PhD in English and Rhetoric (say what?) and waitressing in a restaurant (food is in her blood). One day a handsome young lieutenant walked in and sat down. He was looking for an apt. in Louisville, as he was stationed at Fort Knox and had just arrived in town. Annie, who is a very shrewd and intelligent woman, decided to bring him home and let him sleep on her sofa. Weeelllll, the rest is history. Annie and Eric were married in a park in Louisville, in a gazebo. They bought a little house and very soon Hannah Margaret was born. Not too long after that, Luke Skywalker Alexander was born. The little family decided they needed a bigger house and bought one. Eric was climbing the ladder of success with the Boy Scouts of America, and Annie had a very prestigious job working for Senator Mitch McConnell. One day, the BSA decided that Eric was too valuable to stay in Louisville and sent him to Las Vegas to hook the big donors and make them give lots of money to the Boy Scouts. Annie bravely soldiered on alone while Eric paved the way for their new life in the West. She had to take care of Hannah and Luke and hold down her job while keeping the house sparkling clean for prospective buyers - not an easy task. The house finally sold and the little family was together again. One day, while he was walking in the mountains around Las Vegas, Eric struck up a conversation with a stripper, er, "Show Girl." (Eric is also a member of AMMO.) Eric told her all about his wife and her talents, like a good husband, and the clever stripper said Annie should investigate the Yucca Mountain Project in Las Vegas. Low and behold, Annie landed a job editing the reports the scientists write about their nuclear work. She tells them what they are trying to say and how to say it. Like I said, Annie is very smart. Problem is, Annie works a little too hard. The Yucca Project has deadlines, you know. When I spoke to her this past weekend, she was going to her 15th straight day of work. All work, no play, is not good. Fortunately, she is taking 10 days off to take her mom and Hannah/Luke to Disneyland and ride through Monument Valley on the way back. This Superwoman deserves to take some time off. She not only snagged a real cute husband, she gave birth to the cutest pair of kids in the whole wide world...almost as cute as AJ and Mia were when they were little! Hannah was a babe in arms on my wedding day - she was my favorite wedding guest. You should have seen her cute little dress! She definitely upstaged the bride! Thank you, Annie, for marrying my son and giving me my grandchildren! Happy Birthday! Live long and prosper!