Galleon Investments

She was raised in a dysfunctional family, and if the truth be known, she was dysfunctional. Like stolen minutes of her father's time, she felt a thrill stealing from boutiques and random shops. It defied all the principles she was raised to adopt as her own, and she relished this abandonment of a moral code. No honesty. No integrity. Her emotional bond with her mother was a saving grace. She empathized with her mother's fear and panic of dying, the outcome of aging, premature at just 56 years, but, present, nonetheless. Her mother clung to her possessions, vestiges of her life. These possessions unraveled histories and dispensing with them was something her mother was averse to doing. Seeing her mother's unnatural attachment to objects crushed the girl, as her mother was Anna's only real and authentic love. Anna was, from the very start, raised exclusively by her mother, Lisette. Martin, Anna’s birth father died tragically in a car crash in Washington, D.C. before Anna was born and before he and Lisette officially tied the knot. Lisette was frantic to marry as she was raised with a strict Catholic upbringing and couldn’t tolerate the pressure her family was exacting about having a child born out of wedlock. She made a hasty decision and poor choice as she was eight months into pregnancy, and so, married the owner of the aluminum & vinyl siding company where she worked as an administrative assistant. This was Thomas Little’s second marriage and he wanted to take control of Lisette’s dilemma and, over time instead, took control of her life. He never touched or embraced Anna out of love that she could ever remember. He never played with her as a child and his silent manner was only a prelude to later tantrums and rage with no apparent cause. These tantrums often ended with striking Lisette or Anna. Lisette was mortally afraid of him and accurately thought that if she left him, he’d retaliate and kill her or her precious Anna. So, she stayed married to him and to his cold, condescending, belittling, violent nature that continued to envelop both Lisette and a growing Anna. Lisette couldn’t defend herself and had no voice in the marriage, so domineering, violent and threatening was Thomas. Anna detested him and loved her mother with unusual fervor, having the insight to recognize her mother’s weakness and powerlessness even at a young age. Lisette’s full directive these early years was to protect Anna from future harm. Anna could have referred to Thomas as her “stepfather” but this would have given credence to her mother’s pre-marital pregnancy so, to honor Lisette’s wishes, Anna always referred to Thomas as “dad.” Like an evil and ill wind, Anna blew through life, submerging her anger and hostility with a dry, original, and jaded sense of humor. Humor though was a diaphanous veil failing to cloak and contain her inner rage. Scattered social interactions consistently confirmed Anna's assumption that people saw her as complex, not especially nice and potentially dangerous. Anna longed to be simple, but she was not. Anna was conventionally pretty with a nearly flawless, porcelain complexion, lengthy, raven black hair and flashing black/brown orbs. Her nose and mouth were delicately constructed and her mouth would curl at the ends in sarcasm in a most winning way. Men were attracted to her good looks. But, as mates or lovers, they were only briefly considered then discarded, quick as the wind could change direction for one flaw or another, imagined or real. Prospects for a permanent liaison withered as Anna approached her 36th year of life. A sharp tongue and cavalier attitude didn't help.