Zachary's Parallel Party

 Brain cancer is...

...not in Greeley Colorado.

Today is Zachary John's 28th birthday.  Our plan was to celebrate with Summer and him in Greeley.  Thanks for nothing, Covid. Again.

But if we have learned one thing, it's that the party don't stop. We can't cease celebrations for a little thing like a thousand miles of distance between us.

 

Until we can be together with the Yoast Guillaumes, we're holding a parallel birthday party.  Zach's big day started with three acorn woodpeckers in a row here.  A first on our deck!

 

Also part of the parallel party, you see that 28-year-old, above, making us smile and touring the cabin.

On the cabin tour, we showed Zach today's projects including:

Art from class session #2 with Kristine

The finished ottoman tray project (Darrell added the handles today.)

The solar lit address sign project

 

We had parallel dinner parties too. Zach and Summer had steak and lobster (our treat), and we had a pizza party.  The picture doesn't do the pizza justice.  It's about the size of a tire.  Pizza for days!

Not a bad parallel party, for being separated by three US states.

Zach's Gem

Today we talked with Zach about our view of his special gift, the one he was born with and that has continued to shine bright.

In our view, Zach's gift is that he senses the soul of the human race.  From the time he was little, Zachary has had insights into the universality of the human experience.

Heavy burden for a baby, right? It's true though.  Photographers usually love to take pictures of six-month old babies because they laugh at anything.  At six months, Zach just stared into the psyche of his photographer until she cried.  True story.  We'll show you the somber photos sometime!

He did that to us as parents too.  We were pretty sure that Baby Zach would listen and watch us with intense scrutiny and then report back at night to some mother ship or heavenly source after we kissed him goodnight and closed the door.

When he was in preschool, Zach invented concepts from several of the world's major religions.  One day, at the age of four, Zach explained his theory of reincarnation.  

In grade school, Zach sometimes couldn't sleep at night because he was processing the pain of friends, such as a classmate bullied for his autism.  

When I told a knowing colleague about Zach's ability to put his finger on sorrow, he told me that all societies need sentinels, like Zach, to see things that the rest of us miss, to watch over us, and to stand by as our guardians.

So, like all gifts, Zach's gem comes with a heavy workload, but it is also supremely wonderful.

One of his biggest fans has always been Grannie Annie (LuAnn).  She called Zach's gift right while he was in high school.  She told Zach that, with his gift, he elevates people around him to their highest levels of humanity.  Many of us might be dragged down to the lowest common denominator.  Not Zach.

She's right. Zachary brings out the best in people by listening and by believing in the goodness of their souls. 

We thank Zachary for accepting all the facets of his gem and for choosing to use his gift for awesomeness.

Happy Birthday, Zachy John!

Here's to the wonderful gem in every child, and to the people who help them polish!

Today's Bloom

The lilies celebrate Zach.