Special Mom’s blog

For the last day of my challenge, a tough letter, the letter Z, I could have just gone with my travels to the zoo. I could have even added a picture of a zebra, and it would have been wonderful. It would have satisfied my need to write about a place that begins with the letter Z. 

For the first time ever, I decided to do something so that I could have great content for my blog. I decided to travel to a town that begins with the letter Z. 

Okay, I did not make a specific trip to that location. It was on the way to Niagara Falls. We decided to take that particular exit and spend some time in Zelienople downtown two Sundays ago. Zelienople, is a town 30 miles North of Pittsburgh. I googled and found a great cookie shop. I wanted to get cookies for my niece and my younger son. But when we parked our car and started walking, we found the downtown to be deserted. Yup, none of the shops were open. It was a great disappointment for me. I then started taking pictures. When we reached the cookie shop, it said the shop was closed for renovation. Bummer, it was a double disappointment. Then my husband said, Why not have some coffee at Dunkin Donuts? Finally, that is what I did. We got a box full of munchkins for our little munchkins. Okay, my niece and my kids, however old they are, would be called munchkins only. I am a baby to my mom. So why not them?

A to Z challenge

Z is Zelienople

Reflecting on my challenge.

April was not easy. My son developed behaviors because of allergies. I had a lot of fire put off, and it was going back to basics with so many of his skills. But he is returning to baseline. The challenge helped me keep going. I was able to organize so many of my pictures, and I could understand the creativity with this challenge. I have to thank my husband, who encouraged me with this challenge. He said it helped me distract myself. 

I am not a travel blogger. But I really enjoyed doing this challenge with travel as a theme. Every single place I mentioned from A to Z, my special one had accompanied us. It is not easy traveling with a special needs person, and as I reflect back, we have come a long way. We have understood the challenges and have created a protocol that helps him and makes our travel fun too. 

After finishing this challenge, I learned I do better with visual prompts. As I looked at my old photographs, I was able to recollect and write better. Today, I invested in a basic digital camera. I will be shooting pictures on my walk, and whenever I do not have much to write, I can look back at my pictures and get inspiration. I can avoid taking my phone everywhere and, at the same time, get quality pictures. Yes, the digital camera is a reward for me for finishing this challenge. In fact, for the entire challenge, I used my laptop and my phone to a minimum. 

Thank you all for following me, liking me, and commenting. It was a great inspiration. 

Will I be participating in another A-Z challenge? As of today, I do plan to do it again in 2025.