Been gone from FMF for a little bit,  call it writer’s block, or blogger’s block, or whatever, anniehow…I’m here now, so here goes.  Linking up with Kate Motaung for Five Minute Friday.  If you would like to join in or learn more about it, click on the icon to the left.  Write for 5 minutes, here we go.

TODAY’S PROMPT: VISIT

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When I was a senior in high school, we moved from the home that I grew up in to the home that my mom grew up in, and was owned by my Grandma (which we called Grammy when we were little, and Gram as we got older).  She lived in an apartment on the front of the property, so I was able to visit her often.  A lot of times I just needed to run over there to take her something, or I would go over there for sugar or eggs if we were out, while I was in the middle of baking something.  Being that she lived just across the yard, in the summer, I never put on shoes, and she always made a comment about me being barefoot.  Every time I would stop over there, she would say, would you like to stay for coffee?  This was her thing.  I probably began drinking coffee at Grammy’s house at the age of 7.  If I was able to stay for coffee, she then began bringing out coffee cakes, cookies, and candy, and we would sit and snack.

She was a very strong woman; she worked most of her life being widowed when my mom was a senior in high school.  She owned a gift shop at one time, cleaned at a hotel, and worked at the local hardware store.  As I got older and had kids of my own, we then referred to her as Busia (which means great-grandmother in Polish).  When I would visit her, her normal greeting would be “sit down and make yourself homely.”  She would be sitting in her favorite chair, with all the necessities within her reach…her rotary dial phone, the remote to the TV and her Rosary.  We would chit-chat briefly, and then she would bring out the coffee and snacks.  On one of my visits, she told me a story about how she worked as a maid at the hotel, and the girl she worked with was stealing from the guests and tried to blame it on her, and when she found out how mad that made her.  I never really thought about what she was like when she was younger, but I did recognize that fiery spirit as she told the story.  She also told me about when she was engaged to her second husband (I was about 3 at the time), how he had said he didn’t want her to work, because “no woman of mine is going to work.”  She just smiled and laughed a little at the memory and half rolled her eyes…there weren’t many people who told her what to do :).  I only remember him a little bit,  the marriage was short, due to an illness, she lost her second husband as well.

Even though she worked hard, and was alone most of her life, the last years of her life she was able to spend in the comfort of her home, and visit with all her family members (4 kids, 12 grandkids 20 great-grandkids and 1 great-great-grandkid).  I was glad that I was able to take the time to share a cup of coffee with her on several occasions, to hear these stories…and just visit.

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It’s Friday already!!  Linking up with Kate Motaung for Five Minute Friday.  If you would like to join in or learn more about it, click on the icon to the left.  Write for 5 minutes, here we go.

TODAY’S PROMPT: WAIT

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The first thing I do when I get the prompt for Five Minute Friday is look it up in the dictionary, just to refresh my mind of the actual meaning, and get a logical point of view.  I also think about any songs that might have the word in it, so right now what is looping in my head is “I Can’t Wait” by Nu Shooz (from the 80’s) lol.

Then I get a text from my 19-year old daughter letting me know that she will be home around midnight.  Ahhh…there it is…I will wait up for her until she gets home safe.  With the 80’s music looping in my head, it took me back to when I was my daughter’s age, staying out late, and coming home to find my mom half asleep on her lazy boy rocker, because she was waiting up for me.  I couldn’t understand it then, and I would always tell her, just go to bed, why do you have to wait up all the time? (not ever thinking, maybe I should come home earlier) I get it now, and it’s not just my daughter that I wait up for, her twin brother is usually out late as well, they are not always together, and being a boy, he tends to stay out even later.  But just like my mom, I’ll sit in my lazy boy rocker, sometimes reading, sometimes dozing off, until I hear that key in the door, and know they are home safe.  I recently read an article about a girl who was in an accident and was in a coma, and the hospital called her parent’s cell phone.  They went to bed with their phones charging in another room and they didn’t hear it ring, and didn’t get the message until the early morning, it was too late.  That story broke my heart, so yeah…I will wait up until she gets home…besides, it’s my turn to.

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I’m back at it, it’s Friday!!  Linking up with Kate Motaung for Five Minute Friday.  If you would like to join in or learn more about it, click on the icon to the left.  Write for 5 minutes, here we go.

TODAY’S PROMPT: SEND

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Do you ever stop and think about how much information we actually send through the universe on any given day?  We send faxes, we send documents, we send pictures and links to websites…we send text messages, sometimes to a family member who is just in the other room.  It’s at that moment I wonder what resources were actually used to ping the cell tower to deliver that message, when one of us could of gotten up and walked to the other room and asked a question, lol.  Anniehow…We are so used to sending messages and photos and instantly getting a reply back, that we have forgotten about the excitement in the anticipation of waiting for a reply.  I was reminded of this over the holidays when I sent a package to my BFF. I noticed she had posted a comment on my sister’s Face Book page about how she would love some of the Roshky we make at Christmastime.  I knew I had to send her some, so that is what I did.  I packed them up in a nice Christmas box, and wrote a little note, and sent them on their way.  I knew it would take a few days to get to her, but I knew she would be surprised. I love to send things through the mail, especially now when it is somewhat of a novelty.

So in the days that it took for this little package to travel from the Midwest to the East Coast, I found myself thinking about her more, wondering each day if this was the day she would receive the package.  We had talked about a week prior, she was actually fighting a cold and I could tell she was feeling a little nostalgic as we reminisced about our childhood, so I knew this package would brighten her day.  I was looking forward to hearing from her once she received the package.  Sure enough, when she did get it, she took a picture of it and posted it on my Face Book page to thank me for them.

So, It doesn’t matter how we send something, what matters is that we take the time to send something.  Receiving a package in the mail, or receiving a photo through social media had the same effect.  It connected two long time friends, and brought smiles to our faces and made our day a little bit brighter.

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