zz

when wes anderson's cousteau inspired life aquatic came out, my sister got excited and said she'd knit us both jumpers with the "z" insignia, and that we would be team zissou.
"z" is a special letter for us. our surname begins and ends with a "z".
the fact that life aquatic is a cool movie and taps into the jacques costeau made it feel right. because our dad was a huge cousteau fan, and there was something of the manic steve zissou about him.
the movie itself is about fathers and children, so it makes it all the more bit poignant for me.

the movie touched a chord with many people
so much so that there are instructions for making your own zissou shoes or buying zissou merchandise, i may get a zip-up zissou top


a friend of mine used to give me cards that said, z is for zorro . they always made me happy.
zorro means fox in spanish which is neat given my predeliction for foxes

quite importantly, z is also for zzzz, viz. sleeps.
my family are olympic sleepers. we're nappers from way back.
i suppose the z sleep for me reminds me that my dad (and my grandmother) have gone for the big sleep now.
my sister has a short film of my dad with my nephew on his shoulders. z beginning and ending.
i want to include it here. it's lovely. i haven't looked at it since my dad died (21 july 2008). it will probably make me cry.
but i've learned this past year, that crying is good. living through feelings is important, & loving is essential.
see you daddy, i love you.