Five Minute Friday - Finish

Five Minute Friday is a must-do for me. I can’t stay away more than a few weeks. And even those are a bit painful as I contemplate the writing I’m not doing on Thursday night – even if I’m changing it up for something equally fun. And even on days when I’m sick as a dog, I still can’t resist the pull of the screen and the keys, and the idea of the community flash mob around one of the things I love the very most in this world.

On Fridays a bunch of brave writers gather here to all spend five collective minutes writing on a single prompt. It’s a great way to catch your breath at the end of a long week. This blessed, beautiful place where we open our hearts and let words and tears and the inner workings of our lives bleed and flow and dance across the virtual pages. Yes, this community opens wide and invites you in to share. Come and visit and read. You will be blessed.

This week: Finish 

Go 

I am not a sports person by any stretch of the imagination. I don’t have a home team, a favourite team, a special team. I’ve been known to deliberately (and obstinately) wear alternate (and even opposing) colours on the days that work memos ask everyone to dress in Seahawks blue and green. I knit my way through the Super Bowl (if I’ve even present to see it). I don’t cheer. I don’t holler. I don’t call the hogs (sorry Mama). 

On some unconscious level, I think I’ve been determined to pass down my non love for sports to my daughter, because that’s what we do, right? Pass things down? Even the weird stuff.

But I’m also determined to let this amazing little creature find her wings and develop her own passions because I am equally determined that she learn to find her own way and become the person that God (not so much me) has in mind for her to become.

If you follow any of my personal social media, you won’t have missed the fact that my girl is on the swim team this year. She’s been swimming for ages, but this is the first time we’ve taken the big step into organized training and competition. Sports.

Suddenly, I find myself amending my “not a sports person” stance as we ferry her to daily lessons, practices, and meets that have us rising before dawn on the weekends. I chase down training videos and clips of past Olympic medalists on YouTube to inspire her; coordinate specific goals between her coaches; and study up on the right things swimmers need to eat and when.

At practices, I find my eyes staying on her constantly moving form and less on my book or my writing. Each lesson stretches her and pushes her just a little more. We remind her (and the others); “don’t look around!” “eyes on the wall!” As with any sport, the end is always critical. In swimming, milliseconds count. The last few yards and feet are the ones where you have to push more, kick harder, extend, stretch, and leave everything you have in the water. Finish hard into the wall.

I am infinitely proud of how hard she works, and am so happy that its swimming she loves. I have to laugh at the idea that this is me now: I am wearing team colours. I am standing at the edge of the pool leaning in. I am cheering. I am hollering. I am pulling for her with every ounce of my being. “Finish hard into the wall!”

Stop

 
How to Join 
Want to know about Lisa Jo Baker, how Five Minute Friday got started, and how to participate? All the details are here. No editing or second guessing. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. Seriously. That is the rule. And the fun. And the heart of this community.

Stay tuned - next week (August 1) will be Lisa-Jo's last week to helm the Five Minute Friday. She's passing the torch to the lovely Kate Motaung, with whom we will continue to spill words and write brave.

I'd love to connect with you some more - stop on by the Three Bees Facebook Page or connect with me on Twitter @3BeesBlueBonnet. Let's continue the conversation!