FMF31 2018 Day 17: PAUSE

I am participating in 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes 2018 (all of my submissions can be found here).

Today’s prompt is: PAUSE

When I knew today’s prompt, pause, was coming up, I got it in my head that I should literally pause my life for five minutes as soon as I could once I woke up. I wasn’t sure what the end result was that I was seeking, except maybe some brilliant insight I could then write about for this five minutes.

I made my coffee (because some things really must come first!), then went on my back porch, set my phone timer for five minutes, and otherwise paused life and sat.

I watched my neighbor’s car lights as she headed for work, remembering all the years we were both headed to the same office, and thinking back on so much about that shared experience.

I watched other neighbors’ headlights as they headed off to work, and had one of the many endless moments of gratitude I’ve had for a) having a new job and b) being able to work from home. No “leaving the neighborhood” headlights for me. It’s a wonderful thing!

I heard the birds sing.

I heard the traffic go by in the distance (the interstate is close enough that when things are quiet we can hear its traffic). Maybe it was normal traffic, but in my head, at least some of them were more supplies headed to the areas hit so hard by Hurricane Michael.

I wondered where troopers sent the traffic on I-10 last week when they closed a large section due to the hurricane. Where could they divert traffic that wouldn’t put it closer to the affected area and create more problems?

This last thing is the kind of question I like to toss around in my head. The beauty of an enforced pause is giving my brain time to play in a world where I’m usually demanding it to do something more structured.

It was five minutes well spent.

Paula Kiger

Wife of one, Mom of two, Friend of many. My pronouns are she/her/hers.