About This Blog

Barb Tegart

“You can stop, if you want, with the Z.
Because most people stop with the Z. 

But not me!!! 

In the places I go, there are things that I see 

that I never could spell if I stopped with a Z.

I'm telling you this, ‘cause you’re one of my friends,
my alphabet starts where your alphabet ends.”
- Dr. Seuss - ON BEYOND ZEBRA

I chose the name Going Beyond "Z" because I needed a new way to make sense of my life. When Jon, my husband of 22 years, died of cancer in 2010, my way of life no longer fit into the cozy little box I had grown comfortable with. I tried hard to make my life seem like it did while he was alive. But nothing I did felt right. Then one day I remembered a sermon Jon gave about On Beyond Zebra by Dr. Seuss. He said we needed a new alphabet because the language and terminology that we once used was no longer relevant. "New wine into old wine skins," for those of you who follow the BOOK.  

“If you stay home with Zebra, You’re stuck in a rut.
But on beyond Zebra, You’re anything but!"

I have never been the type to sit around and wait for life to change. But in this case I could do nothing but wait. I must confess that I did not wait patiently. Instead I grieved out loud. And in grieving I began to learn the abc's that start after the letter z. 

I am thankful for family and friends and counselors who listened to me cry for the past two years. Alas, in the words of those of us who have lost, "Grief expressed is grief relieved." In my "a little less grief " state I took this new alphabet that I had acquired and began to find a way to live again.

"So you see!
There’s no end

To the things you might know,

Depending how far beyond Zebra you go!"

My hope is that this Blog will open your mind to a language that is different from what you have known before. That you can see things from a different perspective. That by sharing in my new found letters, you may find your own alphabet!

Thank you for joining me as we discover this new alphabet together! - Barb