Z is for Zinnober

Zinnober as a color is "Chrome Green." On further search it's also an element that can be used in the making of mirrors. Finding a "Z" word that I could expound upon was a challenge that my husband took on when he heard me tell my mother I couldn't find a good word for today's note. He chose this one because he knew my Gayla's favorite color was green. Although she preferred a more traditional forest or kelly, it works.

As small children, Gayla and I were dressed alike for almost everything. My mama was trying to make sure everything was equal and neither of us felt like the other got something more than her sister. I didn't care...I wanted to be everything Gayla was and that included absorbing her fashion. Gayla on the other hand was not as pleased and no one should expect the older sister to feel any differently. As our ages progressed, we learned to ask for different colors of the same outfit. I grabbed on to BLUE as my favorite color so sister chose GREEN. This also worked because her birthstone was Peridot.

Additionally, I am not sure if anyone ever noticed this, but Gayla's eyes changed colors. They could be blue or they could be green. I am sure it had more to do with her clothing choices for the moment, but she and I at one time in our lives said one was for a good mood and the other was for a bad mood. We were silly sister girls...we could make stuff up like that.

For sister's memorial service, I wanted to wear green in her honor but didn't own, nor could I find anything, that was green (unless I wanted to wear a Bull Shoals t-shirt or some horrendous left over St. Patrick's day garb). I decided I would have my toes painted green. I found the color when we arrived at the nail salon and held to it. It was so UGLY that Sarah leaned over at one point and said, "I am sorry, Jaimee girl, even your beloved sister would not allow that color on her toes!" I agreed but was sticking to it even after it was smudged and repaired twice when they put my flip flops on me to leave. It has been more than six weeks, and I cannot bring myself to remove this gawdy, not EVEN John Deer Green, nail polish from my toes. I think we have moved past the necessary vanity change to a public service for me to take care of this. I'll probably cry when it's finally removed. Can't wait to try to explain that to my pedicurist!