Mark was born on September 23, 1984, on the cusp of Virgo and Libra, the perfect astrological sign for a police officer, as Annie liked to say.
Mark’s mother had been bipolar, raging in uncontrolled manic episodes and recurrent deep valleys of depression when she refused to take her medications, in and out of psych wards. Mark left home at an early age to live with his aunt and family friends to cope as well as he could by himself. He grew up to be a fine, gentle, caring man, partly due to genetics, Annie thought, but also his mother may have been a good mother at her heart and the boy responded to that warmth, though hidden in layers of illness.
Harboring that love for her son, his mother had surely been an influence for the first ten or twelve years of his life. He must be mourning mor
