Yesterday when we were talking to our family in Zim, I was trying to find out how everyone is coping in the recent chaos provoked by Mugabe's attack on the private business sector (which has been "sabotaging" his economic agenda) that has made basic food items scarce. Allan was able to carry on normal, meaningful conversation with folks while I just wanted to know how many meals they were able to scrape together each day. One thing I heard him talking to his brother about was the meaning of Emmanuel's middle name "Tsanganayi." There is confusion among our Zimbabwean friends as to what exactly this name means. There are a few reasons for this confusion: 1. there is a particularly Manyika (Eastern Shona ethnicity to which Allan's family belongs) etymology to this word, although it sounds close to the "standard" Shona word "Sanganayi," the command form of the verb "-Sangana" which translates as "gather together" or "come together"; 2. it is a very old-fashioned name or word that has largely dropped out of usage with people our age...we found it in the family tree provided by cousin Shepherd Maunge...it is the name of Allan's paternal grandfather's eldest brother.
Allan's brother Hamish had recently spoken to our brother-in-law's mother, who is also Manyika, to tell her of the arrival of our newborn son. Her reaction to his Shona name was, "How beautiful, how did they come up with such a perfect name?" and proceeded to explain to Hamish the deeper, original meaning of Tsanganayi: it is a relative of the verb "-Sangana" but specifically implies the uniting of people of different clans or races! Is that incredible or what?!?!?!
So I've now taken to calling Emmanuel by his Shona name (since we had that one figured out months before his birth anyway!)...Tsangi for short. Let me help you with the pronunciation: say the words "it's on"...now take the vowel sound -i- off the very beginning...then add "ghi" (like the clarified butter) with a hard -g- sound. The emphasis is on the first syllable, but I'll have to ask Allan about whether the tone on the second syllable goes up or down. Johanna would be better at an actual phonetic transcription of these sounds!
Also, I was listening to one of my old favorite CDs by Zero 7 this morning (trying to get the baby used to sleeping through music during the day) and heard a lyric that I'd forgotten about:
"Newborn Son, Life Has Won."
How can there be someone so darn lovable? I feel like I'm the first person in the world to discover how much a mother loves her child...but obviously I know every mother before me has felt how powerful this is (except for a few mothers we won't mention), especially watching you Jo with your beautiful boys. 
So all these basic little things I do to show Manu how much I love him, well, like feed him, bathe him, wipe his butt etc make me realize how much Mom loved me...how much she loved all of us. But maybe I forgot since I haven't heard it from her in almost ten years. My baby is reminding me what being a mother meant for HER! I didn't know THAT would happen! I wish these were things I understood and could appreciate when she was here.
I think Pam's psychic friend was right about how much the baby reminds me of Mom (even though she was wrong about his sex)...but not that he looks just like her (sometimes he does), but that he makes me REMEMBER HER!
