Saturday, October 6, 2018

Nanny's love-tribute to her "boy"! Part II of II

17. When going back to Illinois we would always make sure that Zach visited with Grandma Em and Grandpa Ted. These were Graig’s grandparents – two very special people – they had raised Graig. Grandpa Ted would get Z. outside to play ball. Grandpa was the pitcher and the rest of us were the outfielders. Grandpa also liked to sing. He was always singing the catchy little ditty: You get a line and I’ll get a pole, Honey…!
Grandma was a great cook. She was also fantastic with plants. I have a hibiscus that she started and gave to me – it must be thirty years old. The plant has gone from Illinois to Oregon to Tennessee and back to Illinois. Grandma and Grandpa Evans were married almost 64 years. Here was a “worthy”-couple.
 
18. Zach got a tent while we lived in Tennessee. And, so, he had to sleep in it. One night he wanted to sleep outside in his tent. We convinced him that we could do this on the back porch. So BaPa, Nanny, and Z. slept on the hard concrete. I’m thinking that maybe BaPa snuck in the house after a while. But---not…Nanny.
 
19. Zach was about five when he decided he needed roller blades. I took his side of the questionable issue persuading that he would be good on the “wheels”. The rest of the family wasn’t so sure. We took him to Target to get a pair of rollerblades and he was “slipping and sliding” all over the place. Still a lot of doubt, but he and I convinced the others to purchase the rollerblades. All the way home I was praying, “Please, Lord, don’t let him get hurt on these rollerblades because I will never hear the end of it.” Well my Mom had carpeting in her basement and this is where he practiced and learned to skate. Before long he was with Becky and her friends (college guys) on the Columbia tennis courts playing hockey. And… that led to many years sitting in a cold ice-hockey rink to watch our star player. Thanks for the precious memories.
 
20. It was the Christmas season and we had gone to Grandma Dorothy’s to help her set up a holiday tree. The last thing we put on the tree were her Christmas beads. When I pulled out those beads, Zach’s eyes got real big and he says, “Man, Grandma must do a lot of praying.” He thought they were rosary beads. This is really funny because my mom was Protestant and very intolerant of Catholicism.
 
21. Z. Tyler went to Saints Peter and Paul Grade School in Waterloo. When he started first grade, I began teaching Kindergarten there. He could pass me and ignore me – had no idea who I was. What was funny was all his friends knew he called me Nanny so they would always greet me – “Hi, Nanny!” After a few years he decided it was okay for me to be teaching at his school.
 
22. After school he would come flying into my classroom, drop his book bag, run to my storage locker, grab his soccer ball and out the door he would go. There was always some kind of game being played on the playground and he was in the middle of it. Now these participants were of all ages and sexes. It was always very disappointing when it was time to leave. One afternoon I was sitting at my desk working when the custodian came in. He told me that he spent a lot of time watching the children play after school and he just wanted me know how kind Zach was. He said he always watches out for those “little ones”.  He always rolls the ball much slower for those little kids so they have a better chance of kicking it. Zach has always had a “tender heart”; he is, indeed, one of the “worthy”-people!
 
23. Z. Tyler played the drums in school. He was really good. Sometimes the drumming got on your nerves because everything was his drum. He transferred to Immaculate Conception in the middle of his sixth grade year. That year at SPPS’s spring concert the band director told the audience that he didn’t know how the sixth grade band was going to sound because he had lost he best drummer. Zach didn’t play in the ICS band. He has a set of drums that I wish he would get back from his friend. (Hint. Hint.)
 
24. Before Becky and Alex left for Germany, we took a trip to Colorado. The last night of our stay was to be spent at Mile High Stadium in Denver watching a ball game. Colorado has three outlet malls. We spent money at all three. Z. Tyler was looking for a pair of Nike tennis shoes. We found them at the first mall in Colorado Springs but thought maybe we could get them cheaper at another mall. Well, before we went to the ball game we had to go back to Colorado Springs to the first mall and get those “special” shoes. When we came home Beth, Becky and Zach had a picture made – he is wearing those special shoes.
 
25. Zach is quite a shot. He got a Ruger stainless-steel rifle with a Mannlicher-stock topped with a 3 X 9 power stainless-scope when he was 12; a Ruger pistol when he turned 13 (This pistol is special because it had belonged to my dad, Grandpa Kermit.); and a 20-gauge Remington pump shot gun. We would take Z. to Cousin Eric’s to shoot. Targets were set up so that we could shoot into the hillside. I still have two spent shot gun shells that he shot the centers out of.
 
26. Our trip to Germany for Becky and Alex’s wedding was very special. We traveled Germany in a green VW bus (the Green-monster) with no hub cabs. We did a lot of sight-seeing in the short time that we were there. Visiting the beautiful churches was one of our favorite stops. At every church, Zach and I would light a candle for the couple’s up-coming wedding. We visited St. Jakob Cathedral in Innsbruck, Austria.  We wanted to light a candle and were told it would cost 5,000- marks in their coinage. Zach heard the 5,000 and got really excited. The money was equivalent to about $3.00 U.S. One of our visits took us to Neuschwanstein castle. We were spending the night in a youth hostel. Coming in after dark, we noticed that the employees gave us a funny look. It wasn’t until the next day that we realized why.  Our tour guide had directed us to drive down the walking path to get to our hostel. (We didn’t hit anyone---nervous Germans…can run really fast!)
It was “neat” to watch Zach and Alex’s nephew, Benjamin, interact. They were close to the same age; one spoke German and the other English. The language barrier did not stop their fun or natural understanding of one another.
 
27. We were renovating a house in Columbia when Zach started 7th grade at ICS. He and his family were still living in Waterloo. He kept his bike in the garage of the re-model house in Columbia. In the morning, we would pick him up and take him to the house so he could ride his bike to school with his “bicycle-brigade” classmates. He “customized” that ride. After school he would meet us at the house we were refurbishing where he parked his bike overnight in the garage. Then, we would take him home to Waterloo. Those, like all of them, were special times.
 
28. BaPa and I like to go antiquing. Zach was our side kick on many of those adventures. When we entered the shop, he would find the depression glass for me, the marbles for BaPa, and then head for the baseball and hockey cards to add to his enormous collection (over 10,000 at last count). We were all happy.
 
29. Have you ever played “Donkey tail”? BaPa and I have spent hours playing this card game with Z. Tyler. We bought the card game at Bi-Mart in Oregon. (Kind of a “Wal-Mart” which the state did not get until we had moved.) They did have the “original” concept of Lowe’s and Home Depot with a store name of Fred Meyer’s. (The first time Z. heard us say we were going to Fred Meyer’s, he got very excited because he thought we were going to Uncle Freddie’s farm back in Illinois.) We have tried and tried to buy this game for the “girls” but can’t find it anywhere.
 
30. We took Z. Tyler to the card shop when collecting was at its peak. Grandma Margie went with us. Zach got a Mario Lemieux rookie card and a new Beckett magazine giving the value of collector-cards. As we were heading home we heard Zach say, “Man, did you get taken.” He found the card we had just purchased in his new Beckett. And… he was right!!! We had greatly over paid for the card. A quick u-turn took us back to the card store. The clerk sheepishly refunded our money. No rookie card. (We had paid $400.00 for the card; she had swindled us.)
 
31. I am anxiously awaiting Memory 31 – October 13, 2018. Zach will begin a very important chapter in his Book-of-life. BaPa and I look forward to this very special day. May God bless this special couple, Jen and Z. Tyler, and may they add many, many happy chapters to their “coupled” Book-of-Love! Amen!
 
 
Love-forever, Nanny


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