Monday, August 07, 2006

Zany Mama N to Z

If you’re anal like me, you’ll want to go ahead and read the last post prior to reading this one – if you haven’t already. I, personally, could never bring myself to read an N-Z list without reading the A-M list first, but perhaps you live on the wild side, and will choose to read this one first. I wish I had your moxie.

Name. I have a very unique, some might say weird, name. I have never met anyone with my name, although I have met people who have met people who have my name. Therefore, to maintain some irrational semblance of anonymity on this blog, I have chosen not to divulge my name. I do believe that someone may have left it in the comments at some point, though.

Also, at this point in an A-Z list, I’m a little sick of myself and feeling rather Narcissistic for coming up with the list in the first place.

Only. I’m an only child. A singleton. One who is without siblings. Some readers will automatically feel sad or believe that this means that I missed out on a penultimate life experience, but I really, really loved and still love being an only child. (Some of you with brothers and sisters are still shaking your head and thinking, She doesn’t know what she missed. And that’s true. You are absolutely right. But really, I could say the same – you don’t know what you missed by not being your parent’s one and only. Let’s just agree to disagree on this one, shall we?).

Pollyanna. I – in general – truly believe that things will work out well. That life events and situations happen for a reason, and that people are good and decent. I’m hopeful about my future, and I also love raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens. (Note: “S” will not be for “sappy”, but apparently it could be).

Quirky. There is no end to the weird things about me. I hate cheese. I loathe asymmetry with a passion bordering on obsessiveness. I love Dolly Parton and Prince in equal measure. I drive 15 minutes away to go to my favorite Dairy Queen instead of going to the one two blocks away. I love to look at baby name books – unless I’m pregnant – and I won’t let SRH’s graham crackers touch my food in a grocery cart because, really, I’m sure there will be graham-y contamination. Again, I’m choosing to believe that this is part of my charm.

Risk Averse. I am not one to take many risks. I’m working on this one.

SRH. Although I have spoken about him a lot on this blog, SRH definitely deserves his own mention on this list. He is, in addition to being my heart’s joy, completely and totally his own person. He’s strong-willed and fiercely intelligent. One of my favorite things about SRH is that I can never truly predict what will come out of his mouth. After 11 years together, that’s pretty cool.

Terrible Twos. Now Terrible Threes. Tantrums. This is my life.

Uncanny recollection of commercial jingles and song lyrics. This is also a facet of my quirkiness. I remember most commercial jingles – extra value is what you get, when you buy coronet! - and slogans – Payless, you could pay more but why? - and the lyrics of songs that I listened to growing up –

Why you all coming down on me,
Trying to tell me how my life is supposed to be?
I know you’re only trying to help me out.
Trying to tell what life is really about.
But this time I’m gonna make it on my own, so why don’t you fellas just leave me alone? Ronny, Bobby, Ricky, and Mike, if I like a girl who cares who you like?
(New Edition’s Cool it Now).

I don’t tend to have the same memory for modern songs and advertising, though, just those between the years of 1978 and 1992. It’s a very specialized gift.

Vomit. Vomiting – from illness, not from an eating disorder or the drinky-drinky - is part of my…er…expressiveness. When I purge my contents, I am quite loud about it. I don’t mean to be, but even if I’m trying to be quiet, I fail miserably. To be around me vomiting is to want to vomit yourself. Let’s call that another quirk.

Worry wart. I am a worrier. I try hard not to be, but in that part of my soul that is un-changeable and unyielding, I worry. Lucky for me, I’m also an optimist. It balances the worry somewhat.

Xylophone. I always thought that was the coolest instrument in elementary school music classes – we had a big wooden one that was orchestra-grade. It even had padded xylophone-hitters for accompaniment. We were never allowed to play it, though. I never got that. Why would a school own an instrument that is played by beating it with sticks to 2nd graders and not give them the joy of pounding on it? It just seems a little sadistic to me.

Yellow. This is my favorite color. Not in clothing – I can’t wear yellow or I look like a big banana, but I love the sunshiny color of yellow in just about anything else.

Zane. The namesake of this blog, and the most wonderful child in the world. There’s no need for me to really go into more description on this one, but I’ll leave you with a picture.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've enjoyed reading your A-Z list. Very creative.

I am too an only child (so is my boyfriend). Not ever when was little or grown, for that matter, did I ever want a sibling. I've gotten pity from my friends with siblings and I've been told I've missed out, but I think they have missed out too. It's nice to have your parents attention when you are growing up.

And I would also drive to my favorite Dairy Queen - they are different!!!!

Tree Monkey

Zany Mama said...

Tree Monkey-
Thanks! Also, it's good to hear from another contented "only" - although I hypothesize that there are really many of us out there.

We just don't say anything about being singletons because we don't want to hear about how spoiled we are, how much we've missed, etc...

Interesting fact: 9 out of the first 10 astronauts on the moon were only children! (Not that I've ever been into space - although I loved DS-9, but I'm sure this means something).

Anonymous said...

Man, those are some ferocious curls Zane is sporting. I wonder what color he'll dye them in high school?

Zany Mama said...

Dustin-
I believe that Zane gravitates toward the cool colors, so I imagine that there are blue curls in his future.

Have you ever dyed yours? SRH hasn't. He says his hair is already too clown like.

Anonymous said...

I plead the 5th. =)