Posts Tagged ‘a-z’
Zenith
Friday, May 2nd, 2008
Baby, it’s the last letter, letter Z.
(This one has caused me almost as much consternation as X.)
As I type this, I sit in the backyard on a stolen wireless internet connection,
our furniture all sits in the garage.
(Your new car seat and stroller sit there too.)
Carpet installers crawl throughout our home.
We get new flooring for your arrival.
We’re excitedly preparing the house for your arrival.
We’ve been awash in advice lately, most lately, it’s “don’t go all out for a nursery or material goods.” Other than some paint and some room reordering, we haven’t, really.
It’s just that Papa and I want to make things beautiful for your arrival. You’re our most honored guest, and we want to show you how very much we appreciate your company.
(Be a good host is probably the number one Hearn guideline. Later this month, I’ll write out the rest of the Hearn guidelines for you, so you can join in the traditions that are important to us.)
Back to Z.
There are three Z letters to you, but they’re all of one of my favorite words, Zenith.
Zenith in the sky, follow me around
I love astronomy.
I loved the class,
I loved learning about the planets,
I even endured all the math that astronomy required.
But, baby, as you’ll find out, we have to make decisions about where our attentions are paid. See, I also wanted to be an obstetrician, I wanted to be a secretary, I wanted to be an artist, I wanted to be an astronomer, I wanted to act, I wanted to write, I wanted to serve.
That’s a lot to roll into one life.
My baser instincts won out and now I consult about the internet for the adult beverage industry. It’s exciting and exasperating and I love it. But that doesn’t keep me from indulging my inner astronomer every short while.
In science talk, Zenith means the highest point above the observer’s horizon in which the observer can see a celestial body.
If you’re looking from either the North or South pole, your zenith is a celestial pole; but if you’re anywhere else, the zenith is a point in the sky where you’ll view a right ascension and left declination as the sky rotates over your head.
(The point right below you is your nadir.)
Okay, that’s a bit much for your first lesson about astronomy. But if you’re interested, we can get a telescope, a patch of dark sky and some hot chocolate and I’ll be thrilled to go over it again.
Let’s observe the above with love.
Zenith Dollarbill is real
When your Auntie and I were little girls, we played dressuppretend every day.
We had a whole cast of characters. A snotty rich boy named Georgeus, snotty, the beleaguered Hattie, a mean girl named Prissy and our favorite, Zenith Dollarbill.
Zenith Dollarbill was a wealthy elderly lady with a mean countenance and a heart of gold.
Much of our creative input came in the form of the television shows “Three’s Company” and “the Love Boat.” On those shows, grownups hung out in a bar, a classy bar, where everyone looked glamorous. So to emulate those glamorous actors, we played bar.
We took turns playing Zenith. One of us would be her attentive bartender, making sure she had lots of fresh pretend ice in her drink. Zenith only drank Suicides, a mixture of all the drinks available in the fridge upstairs.
She always tipped the bartender well because she would often become very drunk.
Zenith wore a fancy teal evening gown, a fur mink stole and a pink hat with flowers on it.
When I am an elderly lady, I hope to wear the same outfit Zenith did.
When I am an elderly lady, I hope to drink Suicides with gusto.
When you are growing up, I hope you play lots of pretend.
I hope you are a good tipper,
I hope you are kind to your bartender,
I hope you turn out as classy as Zenith.
(Without the very drunk part, of course.)
Never reach your zenith
The point of culmination, the zenith, is a point we all strive for. We work hard to reach the peak so that we can retire,
we can quit,
we can give up.
That seems like a very sad goal.
Baby, always strive to reach your zenith. Even when you think you’ve reached it, you will need another peak, another point of culmination.
You have one great role model for that. My mom, your grandmother is in her goldenest years.
She has reached the zenith of her career several times, in music, in theology, in nursing, in education. She’s strives for success in writing, again in theology and in family. She’s not done yet, in fact, she’s one of the busiest people I’ve met. And she will keep striving for that culmination of effort.
You should too.
Yuck, Yesterday, Youth
Thursday, May 1st, 2008
Yuck means yuck
When I think of all the gross things I stuck my fingers,
that I tasted,
that I played with as a kid, I cringe.
I remember poking at a captured leech for hours.
I remember spending much of five years old with a finger up my nose.
I remember sticky shirts, dirty faces and dirty bathwater.
When I say yuck, I mean yuck.
I would like to save you the embarassment of my memories.
Drop it.
Yesterday is gone
I’ve spent too much time feeling bad about what I did yesterday.
Yesterday is gone.
I cannot change it.
I cannot edit my actions.
There’s nothing I can do differently.
Think about yesterday, yes.
Learn from yesterday, yes.
But obsess about yesterday?
Please no.
Yesterday is gone.
Youth isn’t appreciated until too late
I went to French Fridays tonight at Taylor’s Refresher.
We’ll take you, it’s where the grownups take their kids and everyone is happy.
The kids can scream and run on the grass, the parents can have a glass of wine and some french fries.
Watching the kids run and run and run and run
made me wish for that kind of energy.
I remember when I had to grind my teeth to absorb all the energy I felt vibrating in my fingers.
I wanted to rundancescreamtwirl.
(Part of growing up is realizing appropriate rundancescreamtwirl time.)
But by the time you learn when and where to rundancescreamtwirl, it’s too late.
(You’d rather chase the opposite sex or download music.)
Or maybe take a nap.
I want to appreciate your youth.
I want to give you appropriate places for rundancescreamtwirling.
I want to try it out, and maybe muster energy for myself.
For lately I’ve been so tired.
On its way
Wednesday, April 30th, 2008
We’re just a little delayed due to bocce and
emotions not felt before pregnancy and
moving all of our furniture into the garage and
painting all of our walls and
the cable guy.
I’ll write the last letters tomorrow.
And I’ll put them in a poster.
And a book.
Just for the baby.
XOXO.