The Z, Y, X's of life "N" Nettie
these 26 entries z-a are meant as a tandem collection of short essays interspersed through my blog. instead of the abc's of life, i'm writing backwards for two reasons. t.s. eliot said that to make an end is to make a beginning, which i find true. that, and my grandfather could say the alphabet backwards faster than i could say it forwards. now that's some wit . when i turned fifty a couple of years ago, i wanted to start going by "nettie" more often. i didn't want to change completely from "lanette" (which i find beautiful and a unique spelling) i simply wanted to identify more and more with my great-grandmother, who i'm named after. i know i tend to romanticize views of her era. the truth is that she worked hard and had very few options. i'd already traveled more before i was thirty than she did her whole life. for her, going up in my uncle's plane was a mind-blowing adventure, as humankind had not yet learned how to take to the...
