Usually I have this reflection post all ready to go and all the links done by the time April is over. Not so much this year. I really am grateful that the reason I’m a little behind schedule is because I have had a lot of transcription work. Since that’s what pays the bills, it gets priority!
If you are just visiting for the first time, my theme this year was the A to Z of Dating. I have been married for almost 38 years (May 20th) and I know it is important to keep the fun in our relationship even with having kids, a house, working, etc. I thought it might be fun to relive some of our dates and look for some new ones. Here is what I came up with:
A is for Aquarium, Arcade, Amusement Park
B is for Bowling, Baseball, Beach
C is for Concerts, Costumes, Cards
D is for Dinner, Drive-In, Dancing
E is for Explore, Errands, Exercise
F is for Fireworks, Festival, Fishing
G is for Golf, Gambling, Geocaching
H is for Helicopter, Hiking, Horse Races
I is for Ice Cream, Ice Skating, Indoor Rock Climbing
J is for Jazz, Jigsaw Puzzle, Jet Ski
K is for Kite Flying, Kayaking, Karaoke
L is for Lake, Lunch, Light Show
M is for Musical, Museum, Mini-golf
N is for Netflix, National Park, Nightclub
O is for Outdoors, Opera, Operation
P is for Picnic, Paint Night, Pool
Q is for Quizzes, Quiet Time, Quickie
R is for Road Trip, Rollerskating, Roof Top
S is for Scavenger Hunt, Sunset, Sports Bar
T is for Trivia Games, Tandem Bike, Train Trip
U is for Underwater, Unplugged, Unplanned
V is for Video Games, Volleyball, Vista Point
W is for Winery, Weekend Getaway, Whale Watching
Y is for Yard Sale, Yoga, YouTube
I want thank our hosts for the terrific job they did as usual. Arlee Bird, our founding father, John Holton, J Lenni Dorner and the rest of the gang, I salute you. Anjela Curtis came up with our new graphics after the sad passing of Jeremy Hawkins.
I am sorry to say that I wasn’t able to visit as many new folks as I would have liked. It seems to be a theme with others this year too. I know I only had a few new visitors to my site as well. I am truly grateful for all the comments I did get and I am going to do my best to get around to seeing what I missed in the weeks to come. I hope that folks found some new or remembered some old dating ideas. I know I had a great time looking through our old photos to get examples and I’ve made my own list of things I want to do and places I want to go.
Okay, that’s a wrap for the A to Z for this year. I wear my winners badge with pride.
from WordPress https://scr4pl80.com/2022/05/05/a-to-z-reflection-2022/
Congratulations on completing another A to Z Challenge! I had hoped to follow along throughout the month, but April was CRAZY for me (one reason I didn't jump into the challenge this year). I really appreciate your theme and am heading to where I left off with your posts... so expect a bunch of comments soon! :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks Trudy! There are only so many hours in a day, right?
DeleteHi, Janet!
ReplyDeleteYes indeed, dear friend, you are an A to Z Winner! Your series on the A to Z of Dating, particularly after marriage, won me over right from the start and held my interest throughout. I enjoyed seeing vintage pictures of you and Bill at various stages of your relationship engaging in the dating activities you discussed. Your posts triggered many fond memories of my own and I shared them with you as we went along. Early on, you guys discovered a success formula. You keep your marriage fresh and exciting by remaining on the go and constantly planning new adventures together. I especially appreciate your reframes on activities (or inactivities) that most people might not think of as "dates," but are nevertheless vitally important for couples. As we discussed along the way, these include just being together in a room, each involved in a favorite craft or hobby, and not worrying about filling every moment with conversation. It is the couple that can sit quietly and savor the togetherness that will go the distance. The other important "date" idea you brought up is napping or sleeping together overnight. When you feel safe and secure and trust your partner enough to innocently fall asleep in his or her prescience, you experience ecstasy that's greater than sex. I am still astonished that you covered three different date topics/ideas for every single letter of the alphabet. I thoroughly enjoyed your A to Z, Janet. You have every reason to feel proud of this accomplishment.
Enjoy the rest of your week and weekend and have a wonderful Mother's Day. I am very sorry your dear mother will not be here to receive your love this year. I think about her often, Janet.
Thanks so much my friend. I so truly enjoyed your comments and the things you shared about you and your Mrs. Shadys. The whole dating thing was reinforced to me over the weekend when we attended the wedding of our daughter's friend. There were two other mothers there that had girls I had known since they were in kindergarten. Neither of their marriages lasted and in fact one had been married 3 times. One got back together with her high school sweetheart after each of them had been married with kids. I felt so very lucky to have been able to be with the same guy for all these years and I certainly wouldn't want to have to start all over now.
DeleteAlso appreciate your kind words about my mom. This Mother's Day will be particularly hard as it is the first. I just listened to a message she left on my cellphone letting me know what a great time she had at our house on Christmas. I don't think I will ever erase that. Thanks for being such a good friend! Have a great rest of your week.
Celebrate your win of the Challenge by taking your hubby out on a date!
ReplyDeleteExcellent idea!
DeleteNice reflection post! Wondering what kind of transcription work you do. I used to do medical transcription but after I got fired from a company back in 2019 I walked away from it (after 30 plus years) and now am enjoying temp jobs. Less stress :)
ReplyDeleteIt is a great achievement to be married (almost) 38 years! Like I mentioned before, you had a very nice theme for A/Z and I know a lot of work went in to preparing your posts! I think visiting blogs is always hard to do when trying to keep up with comments left, polishing off posts written, etc. I found I did the majority of my visits on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. It did help that there were only about 250 blogs participating this year. Made it somewhat doable to try to hit each one at least once :)
betty
Thanks Betty. I have been doing medical transcription from my home for the past 22 years! My client base shifted and 2 years ago, right before the pandemic, one of my associates decided to retire and she turned over many of her clients to me. Now I do a lot of research interviews and some work for attorneys as well. The pandemic hurt but thank goodness people started learning Zoom and now I transcribe from those recordings as well.
DeleteI did see that the number of participants was fewer this year. I am going to try to get to some more now that we are not in the thick of things!
Like you I've found it hard to visit other blogs but I'm trying to catch up a bit now. You had a great theme which I'll be looking back on as Hubby and I definitely need to do more date nights! Well done on getting to the end while still have to work as well. I can't use that excuse lol.
ReplyDeleteThanks Wendy! It was fun for me to look back on our youthful escapades!
DeleteCongratulations, Janet. The A - Z of Dating was such a great read - with really wonderful photos. Very creative and clever!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Donna. I am happy with the way it turned out for the most part.
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