Fun Times with Zachary
Family was extremely important to Zachary, he always told you he loved you and he wanted to be held by you! He gave great hugs and gave them out freely. One of his favorite things to do, like any kid, was to watch TV. Some of his favorite shows were Sponge Bob, Bob the Builder, Blue's Clues, Franklin, Home Time, The New Yankee Workshop and cooking shows. His all time favorite movie is "Angels in the Outfield"---his favorite line was "it could happen"but he also constantly watched " Stuart Little". He liked to take walks with his walker every night around the neighborhood and visit with everyone he knew. If he was in the hopital, he had to take a walk across the bridge and watch the construction and see what the workers did that day. He enjoyed going to the playground and sliding down the slide and sitting on my lap on the swing. One of his favorite places to go was the library. He enjoyed selecting his own books and thought he was hot stuff when he got his own library card! Zachary loved to go to the zoo but he only allowed you to go around the perimeter since all his favorite animals, like the giraffes, elephants, zebras and monkeys, lived there. He also always wanted to go to The Please Touch Museum; he could spend hours shopping in their little supermarket. Zachary also enjoyed going real food shopping. He would sit in the front of the shopping cart just so he could give me a hug down each new aisle.
One of Zachary's favorite places to go on a family outing was the beach. He couldn't go in the water since he had a broviac but he enjoyed walking along the beach getting his feet wet. When we first started taking him to the beach he hated the sand, if the sand got on his feet we had to wash them off immediately! He eventually learned to love the sand and one of our fondest memories is when Alex took two hours to build a sandcastle with a huge moat and when he was just about done, Zachary crawled around the moat and then crawled over the sandcastle. Boy was Alex upset! We just laughed because it was so nice to see Zachary behave like a normal younger brother. Zach also loved to play miniature golf. He always won since he would hit the ball once (with our help) and then get close to the ball and bend down, pick it up and put it in the hole, "I got two!" he would yell. He also loved to go to the amusement park and his favorite rides were the Carousel, race cars with his Dad and the sky ride since he felt like he was flying.
Zachary enjoyed it when his sister, Katie babysat. They would listen to loud music and dance around the livingroom. They would do arts and crafts and play play-doh! Zach had a collection of cars and trucks. He was very picky about which ones he wanted to add to his collection. He used to play car dealership with us. He owned a Ford truck dealership and would take orders over the phone for new trucks. Zachary also loved to play with his playmobile and brio trains. He would make elaborate set ups with his construction vehicles or firetrucks that would take hours to build. He wanted you to play with him but, please ask before touching anything because he always had a certain way he wanted to play! Zachary also enjoyed painting, he would make a very colorful picture and then paint over it with all one color. He would paint anything including wood scraps to make shelves for his favorite people. Zachary enjoyed making friends with everyone and he loved to tell you stories about his day. He could talk his way out of any situation and he could out reason and out argue anyone, including his brother, Alex.
Zachary enjoyed taking care of his faithful companion, BoBo. He made sure BoBo had on the appropriate outfit for the activity of the day whether it was school, baseball or anything else. BoBo went through all the operations with Zachary. He travelled on the back of Zach's walker. He went to school with him, baseball games, parties and he even had to be buckled in if he was in the car---we didn't want him to get hurt. Zachary wanted to be like other people he admired. He was a nurse/doctor dishing out medical advise or giving you a pic line. He was a carpenter. Hanging moulding with masking tape, laying down hardwood floors, writing contracts and constantly underbidding his dad on a job! He didn't know his letters but he could name every tool he owned and what type of job you would need it for. He was a businessman carrying a cellphone, beeper, datebook and wearing his buttondown shirt with a tie, keys clipped on his belt loop, pocket watch in his pocket----what a character. He even went through a phase wearing a tie with a Tshirt because you always had to look good for your customers! He was also a great cook and constantly stole food items out of the cabinets to use in his dishes that he was making. Once he even crushed a real tomatoe to put in his dish, what a mess! He also had to make his coffee before he went to bed, he used popcorn kernels, raisins, etc.and didn't understand why I was getting upset.
So, you see Zachary was just a normal kid in our eyes. Despite all his medical needs he enjoyed life to the fullest. He lived every day like there was no tomorrow! We could all learn a lesson from him. Accept who you are, enjoy what you have, enjoy your family and friends, enjoy the little things in life because you just never know, live your life to the fullest! Zachary wouldn't have wanted it any other way!
Cathy (Zach's mom)
