Dear Lorfink of Arabia: Is Our Mom Anne Shirley?

Dear Lorfink of Arabia,

This thought has been niggling around my brain for several months now, and I have to get it off my chest. Unfortunately, I have not been gifted with a sister or a brother to argue about this with since I'm the only one who has read these books. Which is interesting, considering that I think everyone, with the exception of Therese, has at least read "The Hobbit," Dad's favorite childhood classic, if not the whole "Lord of the Rings."

So if you and Greg can stay up to the wee hours arguing over the pronunciation of names in "The Hobbit," I get to write a letter that you will not read giving my reasons why our mother happens to be the heroine of a Canadian children's series published in the early 20th century. I will probably spoil some or all of the Anne books below, but you can always go and read them and come back to this later. I'll just be waiting.

1) She has red hair.

I think most people when they hear of Anne of Green Gables, they think of Anne's hair. It's certainly the reason for some of the most memorable scenes in the book. And Mom's hair has definitely always been red, never a shade of brown. Plus, Mom has green eyes, which Anne's are often described as.

2) She's an only child.

I know our Mom is not an orphan. Some might consider that a strike against her being Anne, but she's still an only child. Although our grandmother makes a better Mrs. Rachel Lynde as opposed to a Marilla Cuthbert. But you can't have everything.

3) She did have a Matthew Cuthbert in her life.

If you remember a few weeks ago, I mentioned Mom describing Anne O'Connor as her Matthew Cuthbert. Anne checks off the boxes required for the Matthew Cuthbert role: older, on the quieter side, with an eye for beauty, dying while Mom was still in her childhood. It all fits into place.

4) She married a guy with Bert in his name.

Who could forget the ending of "Anne of the Island"? After three books of their tumultuous history (which fortunately does not read like a will they, won't they like the movies make it out to be) Anne and Gilbert finally get engaged. Who did our Mom marry? A Robert! Sure, Dad's an engineer and Gilbert's a doctor, but look at their names! Their practically the same person.

5) She had seven kids.

You are probably well aware of the fact that there are seven of us. But did you know there were also seven Blythes? Granted poor Joyce died the day she was born, but I'm still counting her in. Plus, Mom stopped working to take care of us, and Anne puts the priority of her family above everything, including her writing.

6) Our garage was painted blue like the hall in Anne of Avonlea.

For the most part, our sky blue garage appears just to be a funny footnote in the history of the Lorfinks. However, it gains a new importance when you learn that Anne Shirley experienced a similar travesty when trying to get Avonlea to paint the town hall. Not only that, the Pyes painted it blue! Now, I dislike comparing our uncle and grandfather to the Pyes, but this almost feels like a reenactment of the chapter.

These are the major similarities between the two that I notice. I realize that some people might consider the whole not an orphan destroying my argument, but these similarities are uncanny.

I guess this makes me Diana Blythe,

Caitlin