An opportunity to give

PRESSURE

I read this week’s prompt really quickly on Thursday night, so I’ve spent the time between then and now thinking the prompt was “press.”

AND … what I have to talk about barely relates to “press” much less “pressure.”

In March, I participated in a Random Act of Kindness along with other friends of Mia’s family (Mia would have been two on March 23.) I couldn’t leave the house that day to do anything tangible, like pay it forward in a drive through. Therefore, I went to GoFundMe and searched for projects with the name “Mia” in them that I could donate to.

The project I ended up with is actually about a young woman named “Amelia,” but her nickname is Mia. Her back had been broken in a car accident and the GoFundMe was to support her family and help with expenses related to her injury.

I Facebook-sleuthed enough to find her prom pictures, taken on Saturday before the accident early on the next Sunday morning. I didn’t really comprehend that the prom and accident had occurred so close together until a few more GoFundMe updates had taken place.

In one of the pictures shared of her in her hospital bed, her nails were prominently shown. She had a beautiful manicure. (That’s the closest we’re getting to “press” or “pressure,” folks — I sort of thought about the time I had used press-on nails and they actually had stayed on pretty well!.)

Anyway, I thought about her on that Saturday afternoon or maybe the Friday before, getting her nails done for prom. And then I juxtaposed that picture with the new set of challenges she faces.

I don’t know her family, but I can tell from the tone of the updates that they don’t see this as a situation for pity.

It just seems to fit in with so many other comments I’ve heard or seen lately — that we really never know how quickly our lives can change. I feel so much empathy for this young woman and her family.

(Here is Mia’s GoFundMe if you want to give to her or simply pray for her.)

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.)