Anne Girl

Well, this story is about Anya or Anna and Anne, with an "e", if you know what I mean. Probably only the female bunch knows about Anne of Green Gables.

Before I begin, just a little, somewhat related back story. I have a friend named Viveca. We have been friends since 1995 and she tells me that when we first got together, I told her all about how I was going to adopt two African children and that I had it all figured out with my bunk beds. I remember none of this, but she's stickin' with the story. Interesting, huh? Anyway, Viveca generally goes by Vikki, but her husband calls her Viv and I occasionally do too.

As Anya and I were headed to Vikki's (one of Anya's favorite places to go), I used the name Viv and then proceeded to explain what her full name is. Anya get VERY angry with me and repeatedly told me NOT to call her Viveca. "She will be really angry with you Mom!" On and on it went as only a fixated person can do. When we got to Viv's, we recounted the story and Vikki insisted that Viveca is her name and it is okay to call her that. 

"Well, I told Mom that you don't like it. People called me my Russian last name and I didn't like it." Okay, enough about that. Only one more thing. Anya can handle their large black lab pretty well. It is amazing to watch. Obviously, if the dog chose to run away, he'd be dragging her behind, but he listens to her. Anya showed up at the back door as we were talking and she was wet on one side from the waist down. She had permission to hold the dog in the yard while Viv's brother was out there and we were just inside. However, she decided that she'd put the dog into his kennel by herself. Well, she was in the kennel with him and her legs got wrapped by the leash (even though Viv told her over and over to not have any slack in it) and she ended up in the bowl of dog water!!

A day or two after our visit, I turned on the TV for Anya, which isn't that common. Two shows came on that we watched on KCET-Saddle Club and the cartoon Anne of Green Gables. Within the first three notes of Saddle Club's theme song, Matt's girlfriend yelled from the kitchen, "Is that Saddle Club?!" and came running in and jumped onto the sofa. She and her sister used to watch that show when they were younger and it had been taken off the air. Well, after watching the AGG (Anne of Green Gables) cartoon, I got the idea to put the "live'' version in for her.


When my 26 year old was about 9 months old, KCET was having a marathon/fundraising drive and ran AGG on their station. I sat mesmerized by the show for a whole hour, keeping the baby up that much past his bedtime. Now, 25 years later, I was going to try it on An (or Ann, still pronounced On). So, we sat watching it. She grew more and more fascinated when she realized the girl's name, Anne, saw her red hair, found out she was adopted at 12, was in most of the show as a 13 year old and that she had trouble controlling her temper (as I am learning most adoptees do). She was in love.

Then, into the scene came Anne's best friend, Diana Barry. A quick inhale followed by, "Mom, she's just like Vikki!" So, now Anya sees herself as Anne and Viv as Diana. Check it out...

Anne

Diana

 

Our very own Anne and Diana. Kindred spirits indeed.