Again

When I posted my last Five-Minute Friday, I think I left out one of the rules.  Yes we all write for five minutes on the same topic, no editing, just writing.  But we also are told "you need to visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments."  This leads to a lot of encouragement from different people - because there's no way you can read just one.  I hope you all will take a minute and check out Lisa Jo Baker's Five-Minute Fridays.

This week's topic - "again." 

"It’s Saturday morning. As I make my way down the hall to the kitchen I can’t help but feel I’ve been here before. I believe it was just last week. I see little boys scattered on the floor and furniture, each asleep where he fell. I begin my routine of picking up wrappers and empty juice bottles. Putting away toy trucks and toy guns before little feet step on them in their sleepy stumbles. I clean up dirty dishes left from after-midnight snacks. I collect the dirty socks and shirts to be washed. I sweep up leaves and dirt tracked in after a game of hide and seek in the dark. I fix their breakfast as they each come alive in their blanket cocoons. Then they are up and dressed and out the door again. And I’m left to repeat the process. As I finish , they come in with their stories of bike riding and hiking through the woods, tracking in more mud and leaves, piling up dirty socks and shoes and coats with signs of their adventures, and asking for lunch. And I think to myself, "Here we go again." I think back to another time like this. I’ve done it all before with the two that came before him. I’ve done 12-year-old girl drama. I’ve done 12-year-old boy stories of skateboard accomplishments. And I think, this time with more excitement and apprehension, confidence and worry, "Here we go again.""

"Dive"

As you know, I've joined a community of writers at a place called "Five-Minute Friday."  In case I haven't told you, it's a weekly post on a blog by Lisa Jo Baker.  The concept is that everybody posts (or links to their own blog post) on the same topic.  The rule is that we type for five minutes, no editing, barely proofing, just writing.  This week's topic was "Dive."  I admit it was a hard one for me, but this is my attempt:

"How can I spend five whole minutes writing about a word I don’t fully understand. Dive. I never learned to swim (at least effectively). I have no idea how to dive, the whole concept of going head-first into water is beyond me. So what do I do? Just sit at the keyboard and write whatever comes to mind. That’s what I’ll try. Maybe just opening my mind to let the words in will start the juices flowing again. Much like jumping into a pool of water would get your blood your adrenalin pumping. So that’s what I’ll try. Just type. Just dive in to the word pool and see what overflows. I can immerse myself in the writing, lose myself in creativity. Who knows, I might even learn to keep myself afloat with the words of my thoughts."

If you want to check out other writers' posts or join in yourself, click here to see what it's all about.

Five-Minute Friday - Opportunity

OK, I know it's Tuesday, but I'm just now getting caught up on all my email.  This is Lisa Jo Baker's Five-Minute Friday for January 4, 2013.  The topic - opportunity:

"There’s something about the month of December that brings out the best and the worst in me. The more I try to concentrate on Jesus as "the reason for the season," the harder the evil one tries to convince me I am too busy for such things. He reminds me how much I have to do, how little time I have to do it in, and how little money I have to do it with. I am in a giving and forgiving mood, but also upset that everybody doesn’t
share my sentiment that every day is an opportunity to show God’s love.

December also marks the end of the year. Time to look back and see all that I’ve accomplished (or failed to accomplish) in the past twelve months. Opportunities missed. Opportunities taken. Opportunities not seen. Opportunities seen but let pass by. But as I stand here at the beginning of a new year, I see a blank sheet. A story waiting to be written. What opportunities await me? Am I more aware of them now? I am excited. I am scared. What if I fail? What if I don’t? The moments are priceless. The opportunities are endless."

Hope you all are having a wonderful New Year so far!