Five Minute Friday - After

On Fridays around here I  like to write....no..that is not quite true....I look forward to writing on Friday because I love writing. I don't write for the comments or traffic or anyone else’s agenda. But I write just for the pure love of the written word. For the joy at the sound of syllables, sentences and paragraphs all strung together by the voice of the speaker.

There is a whole group of us out there....we are all part of Five Minute Friday.  We love to just write without worrying if it’s just right or not. For five minutes flat.

Here’s how we do it:

1. Write for 5 minutes flat on the prompt “After” with no editing, tweaking or self critiquing.

2. Link back here and invite others to join in.  You don't have to have been a part from the beginning .  You can join in any time....any day.

3. Go and tell the person who linked up before you what their words meant to you. Every writer longs to feel heard.

OK, are you ready? Give me your best five minutes for the prompt:

After…

GO:

 

My life seems to have always been measured in afters and I did not even realize it until I sat down to pen this post.  It seems that I have always thought in the afters.....after I was a teenager, after I was 21, after I was married, after I graduated from college, after I was a mother....and then one day....the after's became to the second degree.  All of a sudden I was a mother....and the moment your child is born....you begin letting go.  Life changes....it becomes after they crawl, after they walk, after they talk, after they begin school, after the prom, after they leave for college.  When did all these afters happen? It seemed like only yesterday my little precious....was starting first grade....now she has a classroom of her own and has ten+ years under her belt.  She has an Ed. Spec. degree.  I remember the day I wrote this poem.  It was after I took her to Montevallo and left her.  I thought my life was over and I sat down and penned this for her:

To My Daughter on Leaving for College

The day dawned bright and shiny
Yet a storm was brewing in my heart
We loaded the last of your life in the car
And headed down a new highway
One that you would go alone.

I watched you silently from the passenger seat
This was a new role for me
I had done all I was supposed to do as a parent
And now...now, I had to set you free

We unpacked, arranged and you flitted off
Like a beautiful butterfly.
I walked away from you...feeling suddenly very old.
You were on your own.

A thousand thoughts flooded my mind.
Had I told you this? Had I taught you that?
I shielded my eyes against the sun and tears.
And let you go. Fly baby.

Now I am looking at retirement.  After I quit teaching in two years what will I do with my life.  After I reach 60 what will become of me.  After I....why worry about the afters....lets just worry about the nows and let life take care of itself.  After all.....God is in control.

 

STOP