Today I celebrate a little bit late, the joy of Five Minute Friday. A time when writers all over the world...love that. Take five minutes and write with complete abandon and total freedom. It all starts with a prompt from Lisa-Jo Baker. No edits, no freak outs, no worrying if you are doing the right thing. Just a time to let go and let it be.
The important thing about Five Minute Friday is the encouragement you receive to just let go and the encouragement you give to others who have done the same. You do not have to visit everyone, but a stop at the person who posted before you is requested. Honestly, you wont want to stop there.
Today's...oops...yesterday's prompt is the word "CLOSE"
Let's GO!!!!!!!
Sounds of a dining room buzzed in the back of my brain. It was all I could do to not explode with the anger of my situation.
Here I was.
THREE THOUSAND MILES FROM HOME!!!
And I had to start a life here.
15-year-old girls weren't supposed to live without their parents unless they were part of some boarding school sitcom life.
I wasn't.
I was just stuck paying the price for my own mother's paranoia.
Misery and grief settled in, but I could do nothing but hold it all inside. Weakness was not going to take over.
"You are alone" a voice that was not my own whispered menacingly "your life will never be the same."
"Hello!" another voice broke into my space. She had dark hair and lively blue eyes and was smiling ear to ear. I groaned a small greeting and prayed she would just step off and leave me alone.
She didn't.
That was my introduction to my oldest and dearest friend Lisa. She reached out to me as I sat miserably in a restaurant with my grandmother. I was miserable because I knew that in just a week it would be just me. I did not want to be part of this new life living alone without my parents.
Lisa was a gentle gift from God. A girl who just couldn't help but reach out to others and encourage.
As we grew through our teens and 20s we went through times of being inseparable to having separate social circles. I was the drifter girl who hung with artsy types. I was a free spirit who would up and move to a new state at the drop of a hat. I explored. I lived with passion. I also ran (I learned how at a young age after all). She was the solid church girl whose goal was to be a stay-at-home mom and became one.
As alike as we were different, we always remained close.
Over 30 years have passed since our first meeting. We are thousands of miles apart physically, but we know that being close...for us...has nothing to do with proximity.
It is about our minds.
It is about our hearts.
It is about being different yet the same.
It is all about picking up the phone after a day, a week, a month and even a year...and still never running out of things to say.
STOP
So how about joining us? You can learn more and jump aboard by following this link.
