2025 A to Z Blog Challenge From the Letter A

Welcome to this year’s A to Z April Challenge. As I stated earlier, my posts this year will be based on personal musings. In the process, I hope to reveal a bit about myself, my writing, my hopes, and my fears to you. I hope you’ll enjoy my musings.

Let’s get the show on the road as they say with my post for the letter A, what I call a bookend letter since it starts the alphabet. It also has the distinction of being the only letter that’s a fully recognized word. O may be to some, but only as an interjection, while a is among the most widely used articles in the English language.

A also stands for April, the first full spring month for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere. While it can have snowy weather, usually the precipitation is limited to rain, the rain we need for the flowers to bloom. But this morning, I’m going to introduce you to a wonderful young man.

Antonios is my youngest grandchild, and the baby of the family. When he was younger, he had blond hair with a cute little cowlick in front. Isn’t he a sweetheart? As the youngest of four, he was often unable to participate in activities with his older brother and sisters, One year, while they were all at camp for a week, he stayed with us to give him a vacation, too. We took him to Kingston, Brockville, Ottawa, all cities near home. We would visit museums, animal parks, or just take in the sites. Mid-afternoon, when his little legs got tired, he would turn to my husband and say, “Grandpa, is it time for a beverage yet?”

In those days, we used to go camping during the summer. If we went for a walk around the park, Tonio always had to walk with me because of his short legs. That was where we were when the training wheels came off his bike and he was finally able to keep up with the others. Well, his legs aren’t short now.

At 15, he stands well over six feet tall. He’s in tenth grade, an athlete, an army cadet, following in the footsteps of two of his older siblings, and has a part-time job in a grocery store. This year, he’s trying something different. He will be in a school play and have the only singing role. Would you believe he’ll be playing Elvis?

I have no doubt he will do well since he always succeeds when he puts his mind to it. His next task is to get his learner’s permit for his driver’s license in June when he turns sixteen!

Tonio, as the family calls him, is a master Lego builder. He was only six when he was building sets designed for much older children. He was meticulous in following directions. He still collects and builds sets, but he’s also a gamer, and there are only so many hours in a day! Two years ago, he used those skills to build us a backyard shed.

He’s not a little boy anymore, but he still gives great hugs, even if he does have to bend almost in half to do it.

And, since I promised a musical memory for today, here you go!

I’ll see you tomorrow for the letter B. Have a great day!

Want to see other posts for the challenge? Check out the MASTER LIST https://tinyurl.com/tauke86z