Old Man Z

David and I often say that Zinabu is an 80 year old in a 7 year old's body. In so many ways. He has an old soul.

For instance, his biggest fear is death. What will it feel like and where will his body go and how will he know us anymore. I said, "Can't you just be afraid of thunder like all the other 7 year olds?"

The other day I put an iron-on patch on his jeans where he had put a hole in the knee. When he put them on this morning, he asked, "What is this thing?" I told him it was a patch. And he threw his hands up in the air and jumped up with joy and said, "What do you know! I had no idea there was such a thing." You'd have thought I'd just told him the 7 dwarfs lived under our house and the jewels they were finding were going to pay for his college education. He was positively delighted.

And at his school library, he checked out a book that happened to be new. The librarian told him that he was the first kid in the school to read that book. Zinabu put his finger to his chin in a "deep thought" pose and rocked back and forth on his heels and said ,"Hmmmm, isn't that fascinating. I am the very first, eh?"

I swear, for his next birthday I'm buying him polyester pants and orthodic shoes and getting him a membership card to a retirement community.