Five Minute Friday: OFFER

Have you ever had one of those weeks (or hours … or days … or months)? This week, I thought I kept all the balls in the air well enough … until it became apparent I had not.

I finished a project I owed someone — earlier than it was due — wrote it off in my head, patted myself on the back and apparently forgot to send it to the individual. THAT led to a round of “who’s on first” type communications and much self-recrimination on my part.

Fortunately, I have a few friends to whom I can privately say, “I feel like I’m losing it” and they know exactly the right words and reactions to offer.

Earlier tonight I read an incredible Twitter thread about a woman who helped a fellow passenger on the subway. The fellow passenger was experiencing seizures, and the author of the tweets said she followed the instructions on the fellow passenger’s instruction card, waiting with her through several subway stops and several more seizures until the woman (a young woman – I think she was 18) was safely home.

The author of the tweets said (paraphrasing), “We live in a society where it’s easy to call 9-1-1 when someone has a situation like this, but in this specific case, that would have led to worse things — more fluorescent lights and noises to trigger more seizures. More expense (I guess…). More invasiveness. Less comfort of being home in her own environment, with her own bed, her cat (if she has a cat but you get the point…), her dignity.

I am grateful for a friend who gave me the equivalent tonight — an ear, some reassurance, the chance to vent. It was an offer I couldn’t refuse.

Welcome to this week’s Five Minute Friday. Our instructions, via creator Kate Motaung: “Write for five minutes on the word of the week. This is meant to be a free write, which means: no editing, no over-thinking, no worrying about perfect grammar or punctuation.” (But I can’t resist spell checking, as you can imagine.)

Paula Kiger

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