Reflex Reactions1: A to Z challenge 2014

13 May 2014

#atozchallenge 2014 Reflections post

I survived the 2014 A to Z Challenge did you?

There's a few too many people who deserve extra mentions for me to list them all here.

In general thanks need to go out to -

Arlee Bird and the co-hosts (and their helpers) - a lot of effort goes into keeping the sign up list tidy.

People who shared posts and left comments (so many were heart warming)

Organisers and participants of the #AZChat on twitter (leading up to and during the challenge) It was a great initiative and certainly improved the social/interactive aspect of this years challenge.

The challenge is certainly a great source of information and inspiration as far as improving the overall look and feel of a new blog too.

My most successful post was my theme reveal post. The hop within a hop - another great idea. Makes me wonder about the benefits of a smaller hop. This years #Atozchallenge 'festival' attracted over 2000 followers. *crowd cheers*

It was overwhelming. I found it impossible to keep up the pace I set in the first couple of weeks and was grateful that I had scheduled the tail end of the alphabet before the challenge started. Otherwise I might have dropped out.

A big congratulations to everyone involved.

My theme this year was '26 Greatest loves of my life.' Below are the links and a brief explanation of each post -

26 Greatest loves of my life - Let's call him Adam
5 years old - who wants to play kiss chasey?

26 Greatest loves of my life - Lets call him Baranaby
6 years old - risk taker.

26 Greatest loves of my life - Let's call him Cazaly
Love me - love my football team

26 Greatest loves of my life - Let's call him Dog
I was surprised by the amount of tears - mine and the commenters.

26 Greatest loves of my life - Let's call him Erik
There can only be one number 1

26 Greatest loves of my life - Let's call him Father
Seems a lot of people wish they had a Dad just like mine.

26 Greatest loves of my life - Let's call him Geronimo
First embarrassing kiss moment.

26 Greatest loves of my life - Let's call them Hormonal teenagers
keeping my love hormones to myself until I sorted out the brutes from the gentlemen.

26 Greatest loves of my life - Let's call her Ida
What's in a name - A lot if your name is Ida

26 Greatest loves of my life - Let's call him Jeremiah
A girls best friend... is sometimes a man.

26 Greatest loves of my life - Let's call him Ken
His Mother put an end to this budding romance.

26 Greatest loves of my life - Let's call it a Love song
A real love song - from a friend... written, recorded, perfumed, and you-tubed :)

26 Greatest loves of my life - Let's call her Mama
Pearls of wisdom because there isn't enough words.

26 Greatest loves of my life... Nature
Nurture nature = nurture yourself.

26 Greatest loves of my life lets call him Oh my Odin
Riské but worth it.

26 Greatest loves of my life lets call him Peridot
Adult love

26 Greatest loves of my life lets call it Quiet I'm reading
Confessions of a reader.

26 Greatest loves of my life lets call it Reflexology
Soul to sole.

26 Greatest loves of my life lets call him Sherlock
Hard to resist.

26 Greatest loves of my life lets call The Truth
Fundamental.

26 Greatest loves of my life lets call him Ulysses
1 heart = 3 hearts

26 Greatest loves of my life lets call him Vent
Forgive and forget.

26 Greatest loves of my life lets call them Wazza and Wyn
Write wrong to right wrong.

26 Greatest loves of my life - sounds like X's
Ode to my exe's

26 Greatest loves of my life lets call him Yarra
Open your heart.

26 Greatest loves of my life lets call him Zoro
Save the best to last.

Thanks for joining me along the way. I enjoyed sharing this part of my life with you.

Are you joining the A to Z challenge road trip?

Ida

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26 Greatest Loves of my Life... Let's call him Father #atozchallenge

The Father of my childhood is different to the Father he is now.

We would hear his Station Wagon turning into our street and rush to have the table set while Mum finished preparing dinner, by 5pm every night.

- Now he prepares all the meals, chops things extra small, to accommodate his wife's weakened hands.

He used to wear his hand tailored suits everyday. When he wore his work overalls, he kept his shirt and tie on. Even when he mowed the lawns.

- Now he wears cardigans during the week, and t-shirts when he's at home.

With three daughters and a talkative wife, he never interrupted our conversations and we rarely included him in our girl talk.

- Now he answers the phone and records appointments on the calendar, we make sure we tell him everything.

He used to send us to the shops to buy his cartons of cigarettes.

- Now he does the grocery shopping and hasn't smoked in decades.

Some things will never change.

He still wakes up at half past five, every morning.

At 6am he starts tending to his garden. Nothing is ever wasted. He would be disappointed if he knew we sneak things into the rubbish.

He asks for nothing and shares everything he has. He offers the best of his produce to everyone else and takes what the birds have left for himself.

Mealtimes are 7am, 12pm and 6pm, but he'll wait hours if he knows your coming.

I have never heard him swear, burp or fart.

He makes his own wine, but I've never seen him drunk.

35 years have passed since he bought that station wagon and he still parks it under his bedroom window.

He's never mastered the English language, but he never fails to end a conversation with "tell me if you need something, I love you me my daughter."

Lessons from my Father

Just because a tailor spends his life working in a factory, doesn't mean he isn't a tailor.

Just because someone is quiet doesn't mean they're a drongo.

You don't have to speak the same language to show how much you love them.

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