Tag Archives: Five Minute Friday

Five Minute Friday: Ready

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It’s Friday again!!  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: READY

GO…

“Is everyone ready?  It’s time to go.”  This is a very optimistic inquiry for a family of six.  Yet that is what I remember my dad saying so often when we were getting ready to go anywhere.  He was always the first one ready, waiting for everyone to pile in the car.  Yes…I did say car, and being the youngest, I always ended up squished in, in the most uncomfortable spot.  As it usually went,  it was the four of us kids and my dad waiting for my mom to get in the car.  The standing joke was that she was cleaning the house, so in case it got broken into, the thief wouldn’t be distracted by clutter.

It wasn’t until I was a mom of 4 kids myself that I understood that last minute clean up ritual; who wants to come home to a messy house? Yes, my mom was ready to go, but she was also getting ready for when we returned home.  Just like her I find myself picking up things, taking something out of the freezer to cook when we return, or turning lights on if we are going to be away well into the evening.  I guess I sometimes miss the whole “living in the moment” thing, but I found as a mom…we always have to be ready.

STOP…PENCILS DOWN

Five Minute Friday: Reach

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Five Minute Friday has moved to http://katemotaung.com. I haven’t joined in for quite awhile. I have been checking the prompts, but just couldn’t get any ideas or words together to form a coherent thought. I know…Five Minute Friday’s are really not about being all proper and eloquent, we are to just supposed to write for five minutes on the prompt provided…still can be intimidating, yet always rewarding.  If you would like to learn more about it, click on the icon to the left. So here goes, I’ve shook my head, cleared out the cobwebs and this is what I came up with:

TODAY’S PROMPT: REACH

GO…

The other day, I had an appointment. My name was called and I followed a woman back to her office, so she could get all my information. She did not say hello, she did not smile, she was doing her job. As she was doing her job gathering my information, I noticed that I was giving her short answers myself. But soon after, I realized I didn’t need to act the same way. I continued giving her my information trying to be more pleasant. She was an attractive lady, maybe around my age or younger, dressed nicely. She had on a blue blouse with white pants and white sandals. Her hair was nicely done as well (something I always notice since I was once a hairstylist). When we were done, she walked me up to the second floor to the office I needed to be in. As we walked up the stairs, I just said to her, “you know I really like your outfit, I’ve always liked the blue and white combination.” She thanked me and then proceeded to tell me that someone told her she wouldn’t be able to where the white shoes after Labor Day. I had to laugh, I didn’t think anyone followed that rule anymore, and that is what I told her. I sat down in the waiting room and she took my information to the person who needed it. As she walked past me to go back to her office, she said “(the person’s name) will be with you shortly, Carrie.” This time she was actually smiling a little.

Sometimes we just need to reach out to people, even if it is just a hello with a smile, or a compliment. Everyone is dealing with something, and we tend to just focus on ourselves.  I could have walked in silence with this stranger, lost in my own thoughts, but instead for that brief moment we shared a smile and a laugh, and I know myself I felt better, hopefully she did too.

STOP…PENCILS DOWN

Five Minute Friday: Story

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5minutefriday

Five Minute Friday was started by Lisa-Jo Baker about a year ago, where hundreds of people write for five minutes flat on the same prompt that she posts on her blog at 1 minute past midnight EST every Friday.  She describes it as a writing flash mob.  I’m still trying to get used to the idea of “no extreme editing; no worrying about perfect grammar, font or punctuation. Unscripted. Unedited. Real.”

If you want to join in, click on the Five Minute Friday icon at the left for all the details.

Here we go…

TODAY’S PROMPT: STORY

BEGIN

I love a good story, with its many twists and turns and unique characters.  Especially when an author uses their words like an artist uses a paintbrush.  With every stroke the story unfolds as a beautiful picture comes to life on the canvas.  Some days I read a book and I can’t put it down, saying to myself “just one more chapter, just one more chapter.”

My life is a story that is not yet finished.  Each day is a new page, each year a new chapter.  Even though I am surrounded by unique characters, and sometimes the twists and turns are so surprising, I don’t find myself so eager to experience the next chapter.  But I cannot put this story down, and say that’s the last chapter, I don’t want to read anymore.  I need to continue to turn each page, each day, and read it carefully so that I understand what is being said, follow where the story will continue, or anticipate when it might veer off into an unexpected journey.  I need to savor the interaction with the characters, because in any chapter they may move away or just be gone.  I need to live my story in such a way, that the characters I leave behind will want to tell my story again and again.  That they will smile and laugh when they remember what a character I was. I don’t know when the end of my story will be, but when the Author is finished, I hope He will say, “now that was a good story.”

STOP…PENCILS DOWN