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ANNIE CARTER

ANNIE was an only child. She was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1970. Her father, KEVIN, was the president of a chain of family-owned banks. Her mother was an art history professor at Washington University. Her parents were loving and treated ANNIE with respect and high expectations. They had plenty of money but they weren't ostentatiously wealthy. They lived in a big brick house in Clayton. ANNIE's father was an only child but her mother had two sisters. The first was AUNT KATHERINE, who had lived in San Francisco since her husband graduated from law school at Stanford. Her husband died at a young age from a heart attack and she had been an active widow for quite some time. Her mother's second sister was AUNT JILL, who lived near ANNIE's family in St. Louis. JILL's husband was an economics professor at St. Louis University and she worked part time as a grade school librarian. She had three kids: ANNIE's cousins TESS, ERIC and SARA. SARA was born "accidentally" when the other kids were in their early teens. ANNIE spent a lot of time with her cousins when she was growing up and she and TESS had been eager babysitters to SARA while in their teens.

ANNIE went to co-ed, private Catholic schools from kindergarten through high school. She earned good grades and stayed out of trouble. Her best friends were a brother and sister who lived down the street and also went to her school. The girl, JENNY, was the same age as ANNIE and the boy, BRIAN, was a year older. In high school, BRIAN became ANNIE's first boyfriend. He was a drama student and also ran cross-country and played outfield on the baseball team. ANNIE played soccer and softball and was moderately involved in school service organizations and student government. She preferred to work behind the stage (costumes and sets) for the drama productions. ANNIE spent a lot of time on the Wash U. campus, where her mother worked. She stopped dating BRIAN when he went away to school at Notre Dame. They remained friendly but decided that they weren't madly in love and that it would be better to have normal Freshman in college and Senior in high school experiences. During her senior year, ANNIE dated a few boys casually and looked forward to college.

ANNIE applied (and was accepted) to some good schools on the east coast, in hopes of getting a Master's degree in English literature and entering the publishing industry. Then her mother became sick and ANNIE decided to stay in St. Louis, at Wash U. Her mom died of a brain tumor in about six months and it was horrible for ANNIE and her dad, of course. When his wife died, KEVIN began to act like a much younger man, in an effort to forget the pain-going out dating, taking up youthful hobbies, etc. ANNIE threw herself into her studies. She took a computer science course as an elective during her sophomore year and really liked it. She enjoyed the logical aspects of it and also the creative potential. She kept taking more courses and eventually had enough to earn a second bachelor's degree.

ANNIE lost her virginity during Christmas break from her freshman year of college. She and BRIAN were back in St. Louis for the break and she decided to take the step with him because she wanted to have the experience, she trusted him, she was attracted to and comfortable with him. She enjoyed sex but tended to sleep with long-term boyfriends only. She didn't suffer from much of the famed "Catholic guilt" but she also didn't want the hassle and risks associated with casual sex.

For the last couple of years of college, ANNIE's boyfriend was SETH, a philosophy major who was extremely earnest and somewhat self-important but also genuinely caring and fun. After they graduated, ANNIE went to graduate school at Columbia University, in New York and SETH went away to another graduate school. Again, they kept in touch after the relationship ended and her heart had never been heavily affected by the relationship.

While ANNIE was in New York, her father met a much younger woman, a high school music teacher who spent her weekends and summers working in an art gallery where ANNIE's mother had friends. A large corporation bought KEVIN's banks and they offered him a high-level position with the company if he re-located to San Francisco. He proposed to JULIANNE and they decided to move. ANNIE was happy for her father. She liked JULIANNE and hoped that her father would begin to settle down again with his second wife and that a new relationship would help him to heal from the sadness of losing her mother. She came home for the wedding.

ANNIE earned a Master's degree in English literature from Columbia University and then began to work for a large publishing firm-one that publishes the more literary works, such as Knopf. In New York, ANNIE had a roommate who she met at the university. KARA was a nurse and somewhat wild. ANNIE spent a couple of years experiencing some of the New York singles scene peripherally through her roommate. Occasionally, KARA would set ANNIE up on a date or ANNIE would accompany her roommate's crowd "out on the town." Meanwhile, she steadily worked her way up at the publishing company. She began dating a doctor, PETER, an anesthetist who she met through KARA. ANNIE and PETER liked and respected each other and the relationship was convenient and comfortable, but again, they both knew it wasn't going anywhere. ANNIE enjoyed her job and generally felt that her life was on a good path in New York. She visited her father and JULIANNE in California whenever a new baby was born and for an occasional Christmas or Thanksgiving holiday. She got along well with JULIANNE and enjoyed playing with the babies. The last time that she had seen the family before the accident was when the baby, JANIE, was born, about nine months before. She had always kept in touch through phone calls and e-mails and had a good relationship with her father and his new wife.

When ANNIE told PETER about the death of her father and that she would be moving to San Francisco to raise his children, she was a little disappointed that he did not try to continue the relationship. He definitely did not want to live in San Francisco or to be the parent of four children and ANNIE didn't really want him to…but she felt a little stung that their attachment to one another had been so weak. Although her preoccupation with other aspects of her life was the main reason that ANNIE had not been dating since the move to California, there was some residual ambivalence about relationships from her disappointment at the way things ended with PETER.

Since becoming the guardian for her father's children, ANNIE has given up on a career in the mainstream publishing industry. She occasionally thinks wistfully about the intellectual stimulation of that type of career but is actually pretty comfortable with her new career and life. She still reads the New York Times Book Review and other publishing industry publications but more from and enjoyment of the subject matter than from ambition to make a career in the industry. She was able to get a job in San Francisco that allows her to work from home most of the time, only having to travel to the office for a few hours each week. Her new job involves software design and development for multi-media children's educational applications. She enjoys the job and loves working from home. She likes the ability to work independently and seeing the finished product of her work. It was difficult at first, of course, but she is really happy to have the kids in her life. They have been a strong family unit for months now. She still has a reasonable amount of anxiety over whether she is giving the children everything that they need to have a happy life and she is a little bit lonely, but for the most part, things are going well for the family.

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