One Is Just A Number

Five Minute Friday is a writing event that has hundreds of writers spending five minutes writing on the same topic and then sharing them at http://lisajobaker.com/ . This week's word is Small. I went to a funeral on Friday of a woman who attended the church I grew up in. She worked with my momma and sister in the nursery for years and her life was cut short by ALS at the age of 70. Today would have been her 51st wedding anniversary. As the pastors conducting her service talked about her, I thought about how small my life is. She was a wife, the mother of two boys, and a grandmother. I am none of those things. But I was a daughter and a sister, sitting in between my mother and sibling, hoping to be a comfort to them both on this sad day in their life. It was something small but I hope I did it well. As the attendees spilled out into the lobby of the funeral home, I begin to see faces I recognized from the past. Faces that had known me since I was small. The woman w

Five Minute Friday is a writing event that has hundreds of writers spending five minutes writing on the same topic and then sharing them at http://lisajobaker.com/ . This week's word is Garden.   I hate Valentine's Day. I wasn't particularly fond of it when I was married. How does your significant other live up to the hype if he doesn't walk through the door with dozens of flowers, a huge box of chocolates, and something from Kay's Jewelers? But when you are single, the day can be filled with doubts about yourself and dread that you will never be loved again. Today instead of posting on Facebook my hatred of the holiday, I decided to plant a seed of encouragement. Instead of a diatribe about this over-sensationalized day, I decided to do my best to help someone and I wrote this as my Facebook status: If Valentine's Day is bringing sadness instead of heart-shaped tokens, remember this: You matter and you are loved. 365 days a year. Don't le

    Five Minute Friday is a writing event that has hundreds of writers spending five minutes writing on the same topic and then sharing them at http://lisajobaker.com/ . This week's word is Write. I must admit that it took me awhile to find the Five Minute Friday word for this week in Lisa-Jo's post. I'm going to chalk it up to days on end of below freezing temperatures and living with the threat of icy, snowy weather. I'm beginning to think that my brain is solar powered and on days like the ones that filled the past week, with no sun in sight, I feel like I can't keep a thought in my head. I want to write. I want my words to help people. But in the day to day of a full time job, I find myself at the end of the day realizing that another day has gone by without me putting a single word to paper or computer screen. I feel a calling to guide people through a difficult time in their lives but often feel like it would be the blind leading the blind.

Five Minute Friday is a writing event that has hundreds of writers spending five minutes writing on the same topic and then sharing them at http://lisajobaker.com/ . This week's word is Hero.   When you read the word hero several things come to mind. People in capes with extraordinary powers. People in uniform who protect our way of life by serving in the military, on police forces, and on fire departments. People in the community that make a difference for school kids, homeless people, and the poor. But what about the people who are just living every day lives in circumstances they never imagined. After suffering a seizure while driving, my friend's driver's license was suspended. His hero of a wife is driving him to work 10 miles from their house each day, then going another 12 miles to her job, which is 5 minutes from their house. Just this week, she drove him to a city 5 hours away so that he could be with his sister has her husband lay dying and sh