backgroundcharacterstories

[backgroundcharacterstories]

Criminal Minds S3E20

Lady in Green Shirt (Born: June 21, 1971)

Union Square 2008

I was born Mary Ann Greene in a small hospital in Virginia to high school sweethearts and recent graduates David Greene and Linda Regan. After deciding to throw a picnic for Linda, they hiked out of the city to get a great view of the Blue Ridge mountains while eating the peanut butter and honey sandwiches he packed. From what I’ve heard he was thrilled to be a father and wanted nothing more than for me to be safe and healthy for him to hold. My mother, while loving me all the same, was scared as she was still young. However they felt about my existence, she went into labor on the side of the highway overpass on their favorite picnic blanket.

I often wonder if the fact that my first breath of air was made of the mountains and the streams that surrounded us affected my soul.

My first memory is simple and sweet, consisting of my dad chasing me around a park trying to tickle me. Being an only child, I was the only person in the world who got to feel the love that he felt for his children. His eyes were a deep, chocolate brown and held more comfort than anything else on earth could offer. Every Sunday he woke me up by singing his favorite song of the week and would put my hair up in elaborate hairstyles. He used to help his mama put her hair up like this so he was the best for the job.

When I moved to New York City in 1988 for college, I had no idea what to expect about the city or the dreams that I had. I was hoping to work my way through college and attend law school so I could work in the government, but I was afraid that I would just be taking the easy way out like my mom told me I always did. After moving into my university provided housing, I thought that I was the happiest I could ever feel. I joined a sorority and made passing grades in all of my classes, but what I really loved doing is what happened outside of the university walls.

New York in the late 1980s and early 1990s was the most influential place you could drop an 18-year-old in. I always felt like the second that I woke up after my first night in the city, I was a different person than I had been before. Everyone back home in Virginia warned me not to get all “yankee” on them, but I never wanted to be from Virginia anyway. 

My roommate's name was Helen and we immediately became the most chaotic duo I can think of. Helen and I were kicked out of bars and restaurants for unintentionally being too loud while laughing at each together. For our freshman year, we single-handedly kept our friend John in college by buying drugs from him. But those experiences aren’t the ones that I feel impacted me the most.

I met Jeremy while doing research in Bobst for a history term paper I was writing. He was doing equations for his mathematics major and he needed help finding a pencil sharpener. He had eyes that were like sparkling copper and his hand on your shoulder when he had asked was warm and strong. 

For your first date, he bought you chinese food to eat in the park. He told you about his family and his friends and how he wanted to be a professor to do research. When he spoke his eyes sparkled like he was dreaming. You sat talking for five hours while the world carried on around you. He always took my full attention away from the world and reassured me. He listened to me and my world and helped me with anything I needed. In return, I loved him equally and discussed his dreams with him. After he graduated the next year, we got married with no celebration and settled down in the lower east side. 

Because I dropped out of college to live with him, I had to work some waitress jobs on Delancey Street. While I was always fine, it felt really unsafe and unsettling at times when I had my late night shifts. Since I didn’t grow up in the city, I was still wary about the buildings towering over me as I walked and the night amplified those feelings.

Jeremy worked a job that kept us afloat, and luckily when I got pregnant in 1998 we had enough money and his insurance to help us through the process. Her name is Lilian Rose McCarthy and she has his eyes and personality and my heart. When she was first born, the world felt like it had created a new color with the way I had such a new perspective on life. 

Obviously, soon after Lily was born New York went through a tough change as the attack on the twin towers changed everyone's lives. Jeremy was working his job in the financial district when the planes hit and he hasn’t been the same since. Where he used to be caring and focused and strong, he is not confused and angry and almost aggressive. I ignore it the best I can, life has been hard. At least I have my perfect Lillian to help keep me grounded.

She goes to a school that is praised for their programs and she loves to drink grape juice and write poems. She doesn’t remember her dad before he became so distant. After she began going to school, I picked up a job as a paralegal in New Jersey to help pay for her extracurriculars as time went on.

As I was standing on the platform waiting for the train to take me to the Grand Central Station so I could get over to work over the river while thinking about everything that I’ve been through. We were headed home for my mom's funeral this weekend and it has been really hard on my father. I’m standing on the platform when they put me in a tv show.

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