Crazy Moment

I had a crazy moment awhile back. So there I was, watching some old home videos to satisfy my nostalgia, when I started to really pay attention to little Zachawy. There were so many great moments caught on tape, like when Dad was interviewing him and asked "What's your name?" to which Zac replied, "Two years old!" (An early indicator of his preference for numbers?) And another time Dad was trying to get a nice shot of Zac and I sitting on the couch in our Sunday best. I didn't really feel like hanging out there too long, but when I tried to crawl away, Zac kept his arm around me and kept my eight-month-old body pinned down. He stared straight ahead with a victorious smile, ignoring my attempts to push him away as I whimpered and cried. (An early indicator of how he shows his affection for his sisters?) In another clip he expresses some mild disappointment over not having a baby brother, but we all know it's because he really wanted Mom and Dad to use the name Texit Borntank for the new arrival. (We named her Jannaya instead...who, in time, would come to call her older brother "Gucky.") We also have footage of ten-year-old Zac climbing trees, showing off his forward rolls, jumping off of the church sign, and reading books to us sisters and our young friends.
This next stuff isn't on video...but as a teenager Zac would sometimes get a little silly. He gave me the nickname Niffer; Jannaya was called Bean Bag and Courtney was called Bugs. He taught us (or at least me) to participate in an authentic-looking strangling. He would put a hand around my neck, not squeezing tightly enough to cut off my air, and I would hold onto his hand with both of mine to add some support, and he'd lift me off the ground like that. It totally looked like I was trying to pry his hands off my neck, but it was actually pretty okay to hang like that for a few seconds (just long enough for Mom to get irritated with us).
When we were kids, one of my favorite things to do was watch Zac play Nintendo or Super Nintendo games. I was never any good myself, but watching him play was just as good as watching a movie, far as I was concerned. In high school he designed a computer game called Prisoner Breakout, and I was pretty happy when he asked me to compose a simple tune for one of the levels. He even named that level after me: Niffer.
One of the best moments of Zac caught on tape, though, was when he sang "Early One Morning" at just over three years of age. Aside from the fact that most of the words didn't make sense, he kept the tune pretty well and looked very proud of himself when it was all done.

Back to my crazy moment: the realization that Zac was about to be a father. It was strange then, and it's strange now that there's actually a real human being in the picture. Gabriel Zachary was born last Monday, and even though I haven't seen him in real life, his pictures look so much like baby Zac it's unreal. It's amazing enough to slowly realize that I'm Auntie Kjersti, but it's almost more amazing that Zac is Dad to someone now. My crazy big brother! He'll be a great dad, too...as long as he keeps Texit Borntank out of the list of future baby names.