Annie Elise

She would clock in for very long shifts at McDonald's where she worked as a manager.

She didn't care if she was overworked, if she was tired.

She would go.

She wanted to support her children.

And when it came to work, a work-life balance was also really important to her.

She took this job very seriously because, yes, she wanted to provide for the kids, but she also wanted to be as present as possible in her kids' lives.

Which, what's that saying?

Work to live, not live to work?

I don't know.

But her family had said that she always made sure to cook dinner every single night.

She also would volunteer in the kids' classrooms whenever she could.

AJ just really wanted her kids to know that they were the most important part of her life.

She always wanted to be present, to be their best friend, to be their confidant.

Her older three kids were very athletic and very into sports, and that's something that she very much encouraged them to do.

And with that, she always made sure to be at their practices or their games, just on the sidelines, cheering them on, encouraging them.

So AJ was a great mom to her kids.

but she was also a great mom to everybody's kids.

On most days, even after those long shifts at work, instead of sitting inside or relaxing, watching TV, just vegging out and taking time for herself, she'd be outside in the neighborhood, playing with all of the kids, her own and the other neighborhood kids.

Phyllis Willis, one of her neighbors, had a son around the same age as AJ's boys.

And AJ knew that they all loved playing football together in the neighborhood, so she encouraged Phyllis to sign him up for football.