When I was a child, my parents both told me, at separate times, that I was named after a good friend that they liked very much. And, while I love the name “Adrianne,” there have been many people in my life that either cannot pronounce it, or if/when they do, they say it incorrectly. So, both my Dad and my Mom decided that I should tell people (i.e., my friends, teachers, colleagues) to simply call me “A.” And from that time forward, my Dad and my Mom (and really anyone who gets to know me well) have called me “A.” As part of this tradition, I began collecting the letter “A” in all kinds of formats (as pictured below). If I look around my house today, in 2015, I probably have close to 75 “A’s” made out of all kinds of materials (e.g., beads, wood, metal, paper, clay, plastic). I continue to collect “A’s” – so if you have any of your own and wouldn’t mind photographing them and sending the images to me (to my email address – adkunkel@ku.edu), I would be eternally grateful. I am always one for adding to a special collection…

This first posted collection of special “A’s” comes from one of my best and dearest friends that I met in graduate school, Marianne Pellechia. We continue to keep in touch and share stories, though we are separated by much distance geographically. She sent me these photos as part of a birthday present a few years ago…