She is of a generation that is more discreet about such things. This was the best thing that ever happened to me in my life. D.C. The Irelands have lived in the three-bedroom home for 37 years. Springfield is one of those towns that flows from churning interstates to quiet streets with few boundaries to mark where one community begins and another ends. Along the main drags, fast-food plazas alternate with gas stations, town houses and apartment buildings.
Industrial parks abound.
Old Keene Mill Road, a rustic label for a four-lane highway, dips and rises past Accotink Creek and the Irelands' neighborhood. Dana attended Keene Mill Elementary, Washington Irving Middle School, West Springfield High, Radford University, about 250 miles away, and George Mason University, about eight miles away. John got a kick out of his younger daughter. When she was about 3 years old, she asked him what her middle initial M stood for. Soon the neighborhood kids picked up the nickname.