My Pet Monkey

I’ve mentioned this before in a tag but when I was a kid; I had a pet monkey, named Charlie. I thought Charlie deserved some retro love.

My dad brought him home when I would around five or six years old. Picture this: we lived in Brooklyn, NY and I had a pet squirrel monkey. My friends thought this was very cool. Charlie lived in a very large bird cage. We would let him out of the cage every day for exercise. One of his favorite things to do was to sleep curled up to our cat. The cat didn’t mind. They got along great.

My grandma let Charlie out one day, but forgot to check the upstairs window. You guessed it – he jumped out the window to the tree (that grew in Brooklyn) in front of our house. I soon arrived from school to find my grandma very frantic pointing at the tree. I was about ten or eleven and I started to cry out for Charlie to come down from the tree. Could you imagine this scene? I started to draw a crowd. People pulled over and parked their cars to see if they could help. They felt sorry for the little girl whose monkey was up a tree. They all called his name. Finally Charlie came down and climbed down my arm, sat on my shoulder – and the crowd cheered.

The city was doing road work in the streets. If you ever lived in NY, you would know that this stirs up the rats and mice. During this time, I heard mice in the walls and we had to set traps all over the house. I can’t begin to tell you how much this grossed me out. One morning I open my eyes and felt something fury next to my feet. Suddenly a lump formed in my throat. I started to breathe heavy. I thought a rat was under the covers in my bed. I was paralyzed with fear. I took a deep breath, counted to three, and then quickly removed the covers. I jumped out of bed to only realize it was Charlie. He had gotten out of his cage during the night and got cozy with my feet.

I have one more Charlie story. My dad was not a drinker. As a matter of fact, I rarely saw him drink. Some relatives from out of town came over for dinner. They bought over lots of wine. My dad didn’t want to be rude and let’s just say . . . he wasn’t feeling any pain. He thought that he should share a little of his wine with Charlie. He placed a few drops in his water dish. It seemed that Charlie liked wine. He liked it too much. He got a little tipsy and swung upside down from his tail, and had trouble walking around. He slept it off. Let’s just say that dad got an ear full from mom. He learned his lesson.

I loved Charlie. I miss him. He died when I was around fifteen. I cried for months. He was a part of our family.

Did you have a favorite pet?

© Nadine Z. 2008

Please note monkey pictured is not Charlie. If I find his pictures, I will update.

Change

There is change happening all around me. I’m not a big fan of change, but it happens whether I want it to or not. I’m learning to handle it better. I have no choice. If any of these events were isolated it might be easier to handle – okay, if I’m honest maybe not. All of these changes are good things, but my head is spinning just the same.

This past weekend was the wedding of a young couple from our church. She is the same age I was when I got married, but I don’t remember being that young. She took my breath away. She looked stunning and he was very handsome. Her parents are good friends as well as the associate pastors of the church. When we first arrived here seven years ago she was only twelve years old and now she’s a married lady.

Tom’s secretary is leaving next Sunday for six months to join Youth with a Mission (YWAM) in Switzerland. Another young lady from our church is already in Perth, Australia at another YWAM base. One of the young worship team members is leaving for California to attend to college in the fall.

If that is not enough change the Music Pastor/elder and his lovely family leave in three weeks for a great job opportunity in South Carolina. Another former elder and his family are already living there (they moved away in March). I love them and their kids are my pretend grandchildren.

All these people mean the world to me. These are wonderful, exciting transitions in their lives. Tom preached today about changes and managing transition well. It was a timely message. Here are some highlights. There are five stages to grief – denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Handling change can be akin to what we experience when handling grief. It’s okay to go through these stages, but we mustn’t stay in any of them too long. It’s not healthy for us. In the end it’s about them and not about us.

Change is not a dirty word. It’s part of life. Tom always says to hold on tight to people with an open hand. As much as I will miss those who are leaving, I know in my heart these are good, Godly things happening in their lives. I love them and because of that I let them go with blessings.

© Nadine Z. 2008

Two Braids and a Brother

I thought it would be fun to post retro stories of me when I was younger. If any of you out there would like join in this, please let me know when you post a story of your past.

This story involved my only sister, Jackie, (11 years older) and my brother, Frenchie, (10 years older). My mom often combed my hair into two braids (see picture). I had very long, curly hair that was unmanageable, hence the braids.

Our first home in Brooklyn had an unfinished basement where our family room was located. There were large pipes that ran across the top of the ceiling. The television was against a wall, a sofa faced it, the love seat was at ninety degree angle from the sofa and lined perfectly underneath a very large pipe.

One afternoon the three of us were watching a suspenseful movie. You know the type – eerie music announcing upcoming doom. Frenchie noticed that Jackie and I were sitting on the edge of our seats. Frenchie and I were sitting together and Jackie was facing the television set on the sofa. We didn’t notice when he got up (our faces were buried half the time in a pillow.

Frenchie got two fishing lines, tying the ends of my braids with one end of the wire. He then placed the wire over the pipe above my head. How could he do all of this and no one notice – did I mention that it was a scary movie and our faces were buried in pillows most of the time.

He waited for that right moment in the movie when the music builds and you know something bad is about to happen. He screamed . . . loudly. I screamed as he pulled on the wire and my braids were sticking up straight in the air. My sister turned and saw my braids sticking up and screamed. I screamed more when I noticed that my hair had a mind of its own.

My brother laughed, until we pummeled him.

© Nadine Z. 2008

Blog Gadgets

I’ve been blogging for over two years now. When Tom first encouraged me to blog, I remembered thinking what will I write about? Who would read it? It turned out to be a creative outlet for me.

I can’t believe all the different subjects I’ve written about. I’m grateful to all my friends out there that visit, read and leave such lovely comments. I’ve met so many interesting people that are now dear to me. I enjoyed having a blog. I’ve learned so much from that first time I posted. I didn’t know how to add pictures or fancy sidebar items. Thanks Tom for teaching me so much.

Blog gadgets are fun. I have a few on my sidebar. I’ll be getting rid of one my favorites, Neo Counter. It seems to slow down the loading of my blog. So when my year is up next week, it’s going bye-bye.

In the last few months I’ve added, Recent Comments – which shows the last five comments that’s left on any of my blog posts. Another interesting gadget is the Live Traffic Feed. It shows where in the world someone is viewing your blog, if they are coming from Google search or another blog. What I’ve noticed about this is my most popular post is called, The Ankle Bracelet. I can’t believe how many hits I’ve received and some of the comments people leave. If you have time check it out, it’s a sentimental post. It’s about a present Tom gave me when we were dating. It was part of a Brooklyn tradition.

These are just a couple of my favorites. Do you have a favorite blog gadget on your sidebar that you really enjoy?

© Nadine Z. 2008

Beer and Bubbles

My boss is going on vacation for two weeks. It’s always crazy the week before he leaves, but this past week took it to new levels of insanity. Usually in a doctor’s office Mondays are busy. I receive lots of calls from patients in addition to all my other responsibilities. I had five Mondays in a row. The calls didn’t stop in the mornings, they continued all day long. I was overwhelmed most of the week.

I believe it was Wednesday when I had enough of the craziness and asked Tom to put a cold one in the refrigerator. He’s such a good man. I came home to a wonderful meal (steak, asparagus and jasmine rice) and a nice cold Corona. That is why I love him among so many other reasons. After dinner I went upstairs and had a nice hot bubble bath.

I didn’t need the beer or the bubbles but they went great together. I was so relaxed after my nice hot bubble bath. I felt great. It was enough to help me through the rest of the week.

Tomorrow is Father’s Day. I honor not only my dad (who died 19 years ago) but my hubby. I couldn’t ask for a better father for my children. Honey you rock it in the father department and the husband department. We are truly blessed to have you in our lives.

Don’t forget to wish the dad’s in your life (whether it’s your own or someone else’s you admire) a Happy Father’s Day.

Until next time, be blessed.

© Nadine Z. 2008

Stain Remover

I bought a stain remover recently that promised to remove the “toughest of stains.” It really wasn’t any different than any other product I’ve tried. It removed some stains but not others. I often find if I need to remove stains from laundry that I’m using three different products to get the job done.

Sometimes no matter what you do there are always some stains that don’t go away. They may fade but don’t disappear.

Tom and I was driving pass a church the other day and the following was on their bulletin board: God removes the stains that others leave behind.

I thought to myself – wow, that’s so true. When He comes along He removes the hurts, the pains, the heartbreak, etc. that other people inflict on us. Tom preached last Sunday about God giving out new hearts to replace the broken hearted ones, the divided ones, the harden ones and the dirty ones. It was a great message followed by a powerful time of ministry.

I know for myself that when my heart breaks, I tend to harden my heart. I put up walls to protect myself from future hurt. I distance myself from the person emotionally and sometimes physically. I look at others with suspicion. Trust is not given easily. If I’m not careful, I isolate myself from everyone. God doesn’t want me to operate that way. He wants to remove the stains and heal the hurt. Sometimes He just gives a whole new heart that doesn’t even recall the hurt that was once there.

© Nadine Z. 2008

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Saturday, June 7, 2008 will mark our 27^th wedding anniversary. Sometimes it feels as if it were only yesterday that we were planning are our wedding. Today, I look back and appreciate all the blessings God has placed in our lives. Tom is in remission, we have two adult children and I love him more today than I did the day we wed.

I tell young couples that are getting married that the honeymoon never has to end. The truth is reality sets in and responsibility is a part of adult life, but the honeymoon – the feelings of love and passion grows with time.

I may not be a great gardener, but I know this much it takes work to make your garden bloom. It doesn’t just happen. You have to mow the lawn or you appear to live in a jungle. You do have to water your plants so that they can grow and not die. The result can be a thing of beauty.

How much more effort should you put into your marriage to make it bloom. I often talk about Tom on this blog and how much I love him. He’s a good man, a good father and a good friend and that’s just to me personally. He loves me and shows it by his actions (just this week he baked me a chocolate caramel cake for no particular reason at all, just because he loves me).

Marriage is both parties giving 100% or more of themselves. One thing I’ve found is that our children grow up and leave, as well as it should be. It’s important to spend time together especially as the children are growing up. I’m a firm believer on going on dates even if it’s on the couch watching a DVD after the kids are in bed. I’m so grateful our families were close by when my kids were younger – sleepovers at least once a month was not only great for them but for us.

This Saturday I celebrate love. I celebrate marrying my high school sweetheart and the love of my life. I celebrate being married to my best friend and my biggest supporter. I celebrate you Tom. I love you with my whole heart. Thank you for being there for me in good time and bad, in sickness and in health, for richer and for poorer, until death do us part.

Know that I will remain –

Forever Yours,

Nadine

© 2008