Take it easy on Zazy. Yeah, right.

submitted by Beth

Zazy. So many fond memories. Zazy used to take us (my two older brothers, Bruce and Keith and me) for rides in the car. We never knew where we were going, and according to Zazy, neither did he so we always got lost. After a long drive to nowhere and everywhere, he would tap on the dashboard to ask his friends for help getting back home. Zazy would cock his head to one side as if he were listening and tell us, "They said to turn right here". And on we'd go for awhile, then he'd start the query all over again for the next turn and the next. We tried to hear them ourselves, but they only spoke to Zazy. And they always led us back home. Amazing.

I consider myself to have been pretty successful at athletics. I owe it all to him. From his patience and persistance in teaching me how to throw a ball to his belief in the importance of honest effort and sportsmanship. Not only was he an absolute marvel on the playing field in numerous sports himself, he was a wonderful coach and mentor. To this day, when I go bowling if my delivery starts to fail me I think of Zazy's guiding instruction to "thumb my nose" on my follow-through. It brings me right back every time. Zazy was a great bowler! Even after arthritis made it impossible for him to throw a bowling ball down the alley with the normal three step approach and backswing, he would stand at the end of the lane and launch the ball off his fingertips and throw strike after strike. He was really something.

And then there was Petey bird. Zazy had the most amazing way with this little yellow parakeet. He would place Pete on his back in the palm of his hand and point his finger at him and say "Stay there" and that bird would not move an inch. Then he would signal to him with his finger by making a little curly Q in the air and that bird would arch his back and grab Zazy's finger with his beak and flip himself over. He would take Pete in his hand and launch him into the air to fly around the room a couple of times. Then he would pull open the breast pocket of these white undershirts that he always wore and point to it and Pete would go zooming into his pocket! And then there were the card games. Zazy would have his buddies over for poker and when a player folded and placed his cards on the table, Pete would skitter across the table and flip over their cards with his beak. He had Petey Two and then a blue parakeet named Dumb Dumb (because he was) after that, but none of them ever rivaled the antics of the original Pete.

When we were little he showed us how to make a really big muscle. Even though we knew what was coming we were crazy to let him show us more than once. He would tell us to bend our arms like a strongman and show how big our muscles were, then he would karate chop us in the bicep and of course our muscles would respond by tensing up and getting even bigger! He never really hurt us, but ... boy did that smart.

I remember being in the prime of my athletic career and conditioning during my college years. I went to visit Zazy and he took me to the racquetball court to have some fun. Now remember, I was in pretty good shape back then, as a member of three collegiate sport teams. So I figured this will be fun, but I'll try not to be too hard on Zazy. He was in his seventies after all. He stood in the middle of the court and shot after shot made absolute mincemeat out of me. I'm running all over the place diving for the ball. He never even broke a sweat! Take it easy on Zazy, yeah right!