Reflections of the A-Z blogging challenge

This morning while watering my window boxes, container pots and garden, my mind was thinking, how to
sum this challenge up.   I tend to only follow this rule of thumb, when planting, all the plants must have a common  theme: light, full sun, semi-sun, semi-shade, or shade.  This container pictured has lettuce, chives,
gerbera daisies, nasturtiums, sweet peas and a bell pepper plant.  They thrive well together, if the soil is rich, with adequate water and sun.  Our blogging challenge was like this.  There were so many different types of blogs, different themes, different religions, different countries, etc.   Together, like a garden we thrived, our theme was to see if we could complete the A-Z blogging challenge. We blogged the alphabet throughout the month of April, a letter everyday, but Sunday.   The gardener who planted this seed is Arlee Bird of Tossing it Out.  I jump into it by following this blog ....and this time, concentrate!.  I can't remember how I found this site. I love that Summer lead me to Bird who dropped the seed and we started sowing our posts.   When one thinks of gardens, you notice bugs.   There are good ones for your garden, this spider is one of these.

B. Miller, a gifted writer, told me this spider in the south, is called the writing spider.  I took this as a great sign and continued onward in the challenge.  I think all bloggers are like spiders, we weave our own webs, trying to attract comments and followers.  We all want our voices to be heard; We enjoy sharing with others and others sharing comments with us.  The spider's web is strong, like a fine, strong thread.  I think of my Q post and how I felt like I was part of this amazing quilt.  We are all different, whether it be shape, size, color, our opinions, but together we stitched a bond, shared an experience, we shared stories, insights and much, much more. We became a family, a crazy quilt of random blogs, bound together with a theme.

Some of us, found our voice, some became better writers, we made new friends, acquired new followers, some discovered new paths that they may want to pursue!

Those that didn't finish the challenge, would agree it was an unique experience!  No guilt, you did your best!
Those of us, that did finish, would agree, together we flourished!

I was attracted to the challenge, wondering how it would be daily, blogging with a theme.  I did at times feel intimidated; I discovered, so many talented writers were part of this group.  I did feel challenged several times, my family would look at me puzzled, when I would mention, tomorrow is I, etc.    I wish I had made, found more time to visit more blogs. I learned how united, people can become, no matter what their background, views, opinions, if they have a theme, a common thread.     I will likely go back to blogging the way I did before, 5x a week, it suited my lifestyle.    I think going outside of your comfort zone helps you grow, pushes you in a different direction and you always learn from it.

I  want to thank all of you that signed up, to follow me, I started with 17 followers, today I have 68..Wow!   I
 want to thank all of you, that took the time to comment.  This gave me feed back and motivation to continue!
Special kudos to those in the challenge, that commented often are, (in no particular order)  Melody, Chris,
B. Miller, Shannon, Ginny, Lady Jane, Linda, Alex, Yvonne, Lisa, Wanda, Wasabi Mommy, Hart, Jen, Raquel, ModernDayDrifter, Debra, Bud, , Grammy, Charmaine, Roland, Rayna, Beth and Arlee.
I also want to thank all the others that joined in and posted; Your comments were so kind and encouraging!  I wish I had real awards to give out and  brownies ;-D

 A special Thank you to Wanda, for my blog award, continue your path, every time I read your post, I
thought, she should have a newspaper column, very motivating and always thought provoking~

Arlee, we need to make you a virtual trophy of some type(Uncle Sam) for bringing us together!  Thank you for all your hard work and reaping what you sow!