Recap and Reflections on “Endwell: My Early Teen Years” — Including all 26 posts in the April 2021 Blogging from #AtoZChallenge. Thanks for joining me on the journey and commenting along the way!
Now that the April 2021 Blogging from #AtoZChallenge is over, I am happy to be among the winners who completed the online marathon — for the fourth time!
After a frenetic month of blogging six days a week, I’ll be relieved to return to weekly blogging as I continue to explore my ancestors’ lives and the research techniques I used to find them.
Yet it was fun taking a deep dive into my early teens in Endwell, N.Y, during the early 1960s. Stay tuned — I’m considering a sequel about my late teens next year!
RECAP OF “ENDWELL: MY EARLY TEEN YEARS”
Below are links to my #AtoZChallenge 2021 posts about Endwell: My Early Teen Years, adding my story to the family history mix. Please check out any you may have missed. Comments are still open on the later posts and I love hearing from readers!
- Theme – Endwell: My Early Teen Years
- Adolescence begins: Endwell through a teen lens
- Boys, Braces and Babysitting
- Confirmation and finessing the Pledge
- Dion, the Dave Clark Five and Dancing to Dick Clark
- Edgar Allen Poe and the weeping willow tree
- Family Fun and Farm visits
- Gene Pitney and the Caravan of Stars
- Halloween Hijinks: Teen Version
- IBM Country Club and the great divide
- Junior Prom: My awkward first date
- Kents and the Creek: I learn to smoke
- Line dancing and Long distance friendships
- Margot, Moose and ancestral connections
- Norm: My career-building dad
- Orange juice can curlers and On-the-roof suntans
- Peg: My multitasking mom
- Questioning everything!
- Rock-n-Roll DJs: My brief crush on Jack Rose
- Space flights, Sweater Sets and Slam books
- Talking on the busy signal
- Undaunted: Seventh Blogiversary!
- Various other teen interests: From “Twilight Zone” to RFK
- World’s Fair 1964: I fall in love!
- X-Bedroom: I have to move!
- Youth job at the Altamont Fair
- Zip code scares and Zap: A power outage!
REFLECTIONS ON THE 2021 #ATOZCHALLENGE
Busier than last year. Overall, I found this A to Z was busier than last year — in part because I went all-in on trying to comment regularly. The participant list identified genealogy and family history bloggers to help me focus my visits/comments — but I visited around a bit, too, making it a true blogfest!
Great camaraderie. Overall, I learned so much from the meaningful camaraderie and thoughtful comments I received — and from the blogs I visited. I was gratified by the positive feedback and parallel experiences that visiting bloggers shared. And it was nice to catch up with bloggers from previous A to Z Challenges.
Embracing memoir. My blog focuses on ancestral research — but it’s also important to include ourselves in the mix, leaving an online diary like the ones we wish our ancestors had left. That’s why I followed up earlier A to Z themes on my early childhood (2017) and my elementary years (2020) with a series this year about my early teens.
Many thanks to everyone who visited, subscribed, followed and commented on Molly’s Canopy. You made my fourth #AtoZChallenge so rewarding. Please join me throughout the year as my genealogy journey continues!
Up next: After a brief break, regular blogging resumes at Molly’s Canopy. Please stop back!
© 2021 Molly Charboneau. All rights reserved.