Five Minute Friday: Exhale

GO.

I have had two distinct moments of "exhale" today.  Both a little out of the ordinary.  It was a day with lots of rushing and rearranging plans, last minute packing and frenzy.  But on the way to my parents house, where I am currently typing away, the baby and two dogs were all asleep and it was silent.  For a whole 45 minutes.  So I just listened to the quiet.  My husband thinks I'm nuts.  He blares his music in the car turbo loud and I tell him my favorite sound is silence.  Total opposites.  But we're married and it's wonderful.  While listening to the silence on the road, I had a chance to just pray and think.  It's amazing how clear everything sounds in your head when it's silent.

My second exhale is actually right now.  I'm sitting here at my parents house alone on the fourth of July as the baby sleeps and the dogs make muffled barks at the sound of firecrackers in the distance.  I was thinking, I don't remember the last time I've been alone at the house I grew up in.  It feels kind of weird.  My mom just texted me directions on how to turn the TV on and how to find HGTV.  But I think I like the quiet again.

Today, my husband's grandpa passed away while a marching band paraded by the house.  Silence and noise.  On Independence Day.  In a way, I think it's kind of beautiful that he went home today.  Independence…freedom…today Jim is truly free, and no doubt there was a lot of noise and celebration (perhaps even a celestial marching band) as he was welcomed home at last.

STOP.

Five Minute Friday is a weekly one-word writing prompt by Lisa Jo Baker in which you have only five minutes to write whatever pops into your head.