I have so many photos of Annie, pictures of her at swimming lessons, Dutch Wonderland, picking pumpkins, gymnastics class, soccer, softball and school. How did one little girl squeeze so much life into six years?
First and foremost is that her parents, Megan and Tom, did everything with their girls. They live their life to the fullest and as soon as they started their family they included their girls in everything they did. And Annie embraced every moment she was here with her family and friends. Annie was passionate, whether it was the 100 watt toothless smile or on the contrary, letting her feelings be known if she wasn't in agreement with a decision. Since she lived the majority of her life as the middle child, she was a classic middle kid. She looked up to her older sister, Susie, with a reverence and emulated that older sister role to perfection with Alice and then Madalyn.
The photo here is when we all went to see the play "Annie" at the Lyric in Baltimore. Really, how cool would it be as a kid to get see a play that is named after you? Annie had her dollar, she was ready to go.
So many great memories of Annie dancing, singing and just in general jumping around amongst her sisters. Hopping and skipping seemed to be her favorite mode of moving from one space to another. My last memory of Annie was on the Thursday before she passed. She was talking about moving on to first grade the following year. I was about to ask her if she was excited to wear a school uniform like Susie. For some reason I didn't bring it up and was thinking, oh I'll just ask her next week. I have always felt that it was in that moment that Annie taught me the most important lesson of my life.
