Our multi-year plan to outpace the Macdonalds and the Arsenaults and become a Prominent Island Family achieved another milestone on Friday evening with the birth in Charlottetown of Ava Frances Rukavina, daughter to my brother Johnny and sister-in-law Jodi.

Ava is the first girl born into our immediate family since my mother was born, which means that she has an additional miracle to add to her belt in addition to the regular “miracle of birth.”

We visited on Saturday, and I can affirm that Ava is adorable.

By the way, it’s Aaa-va-ah, like Ava Gardner.

Ava happens to share her birth date with Nanci Griffith and Peter Mansbridge, and Janet Leigh.

Ava Gardner was in The Kidnapping of the President with Hal Holbrook Hal Holbrook was in The Fog (1980) with Janet Leigh.

And if you want to get really funky: Peter Mansbridge was in April One (1993) with David Strathairn. David Strathairn was in The Firm (1993) with Hal Holbrook. You do the rest.

Here’s what The Old Farmer’s Almanac says for those born on July 6:

You are serious in everything you do, whether love, work, or recreation. You are a great reader, a profound thinker, and an ardent student, and make the most of your abilities. You enjoy culture and refinement, and whatever you undertake is done to the best of your ability.

Welcome to the family.