Reflections On Another A to Z

                                                                                    

                                                           
I was hoping to enter the challenge more prepared, but had only written through the letter "G."  I received a lot of encouraging feedback, and before I knew it, the first week had flown by. It was so easy to fall behind, which forced me to work overtime to catch up. Arlee Bird along with all of the co-hosts continually advised the participants to write all of their posts months ahead of time, so I had no one to blame but myself. However, this self-inflicted chaos combined with all of the friendly new followers, only added to the excitement of my second A to Z.

What made this year even more meaningful was that I had a larger support system going into the challenge. Special thanks to  Al,  Alex,  C. Lee,  Delores,  Julie ,  L.G.,  Nancy,  Rosalind, Susan, Tonja, and Yvonne.  These dedicated, and affable alphabet savants made a constant effort to make sense of my daily ramblings. We laughed, groaned, and soldiered on together.

In addition to my loyal supporters, I was also fortunate enough to meet a new group of faithful followers: Gossip Girl,  Jen,  Jessica,   Libby,   Lynn,  Michelle,   Susanne,  Tracy,  Youmna, and Yvonne S.  I don't know how they found the time to drop in so often, but the camaraderie made the experience all the more worthwhile.

Even bloggers who weren't participating in A to Z caught the fever, and were kind enough to show their support. Carol,  Mary,  Robyn, and  Talli  were wonderful about cheering me on.

I would also like to thank Arlee Bird for organizing another eventful challenge, along with all of the co-hosts. As previously mentioned, co-host  Alex went out of his way to drop in, and miraculously grew more charming with sleep deprivation.  Stephen also made several visits, though I'm not sure if he thought that I was from another galaxy. Overall, I was thrilled to increase my followers, and I appreciate everyone who took the time to comment. I'm sorry if I missed anyone, as I just included the most frequent visitors.

 I'm so grateful that I was a part of another wildly successful A to Z that helped me stretch my boundaries. Though I often write about events in my family, I've never really written about my dad. He died almost 34 years ago, and I finally decided to share some of our experiences in "Yearning For Yesteryear" last Saturday. One week later, a dear family friend phoned my mom to tell her how much she enjoyed the story. Memories of my dad came flooding back to her, and she felt like we were all together again. This was my greatest A to Z achievement.