A is for....

A is for apple. And airplane and ant, something I’ll never forget because my beloved kindergarten teacher taught it to me. Who could not love, with the devotion of the cherubim, the sweet and patient young woman who had time only for her charges, and whose smile seemed to radiate candy store approval! 

Later I was to discover that A also headed up the collection of letters that denoted aardvark, algorithm and appendix. I cannot say why it is I still remember this, since it was learned under the loveless and unforgiving stare of a succession of science masters, all of whom seemed to possess the pinched features of birds of prey.

Thankfully, 'A' also ushered into my vocabulary affection, adoration and ardour. What pleasant lessons were these! Suddenly the acquisition of additional attributes became an attractive adventure, and I an assiduous and attentive A student! ... I must pause a moment here to admire my own amazing adjectival ability... alright,... I’m laughing now. I had you going there for a minute didn’t I? Were you thinking you’d landed smack in the middle of some kind of erudite literary blah blah? Sadly, no. Life carries its disappointments. Never mind, we were onto something there, I feel it down deep in my atoms...

Right now I guess I’m somewhere between almond truffle and Alka-Seltzer, or perhaps more accurately, halfway between alpha and omega. It’s not such a bad place to be. Rather than start to panic at the approach of age and the accompanying agents of doom which threaten arthritis, alzheimers, atrophy....arrrghhh!! .... no, rather than pack a thesaurus of assumptions into my expectations, let me pause once again. Perhaps to laugh at myself, or perhaps just to enjoy the achievement of reaching this moment with my wits intact.

A is for atmosphere. I create my own, with the thoughts that I breathe, and the actions I allow.