Welcome to this week’s edition of the Five Minute Friday link-up! We’ve been freeeeezing here in West Michigan and though I don’t have any school-age kids at home anymore, there have been four snow days in a row with a strong possibility of a fifth!
I hope wherever you are, you’re staying warm and safe.
This week’s FMF writing prompt is: UNUSUAL
Setting my timer for five minutes, and . . . GO.Â
Last week, my husband and I took a quick trip down to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. We had one of those time share presentation offers and it was due to expire at the end of this month, so even though the timing wasn’t ideal for a number of reasons, we decided to just go for it.
We’d driven through parts of Tennesee before on the way further south and I’d been to a Five Minute Friday retreat outside of Nashville several years ago, but neither of us had ever been to Gatlinburg or the Smoky Mountains.
Let’s just say the actual town of Gatlinburg was rather surprising. If you’ve ever been to Wisconsin Dells, it’s like that but on steroids. An entire town built for a very specific, rather unusual type of tourism and entertainment. Somewhat baffling, to be honest. Ha!
Granted, half the town was shut down due to a post-Christmas season break.
Then the second day we were there, they had a Winter Storm Warning and the other half of the town shut down. I’m talking a high of 27 degrees. In Tennessee.
Since it was too cold and unpleasant to be outside, we decided to go for a drive — except most of the scenic routes through the mountains were closed as well.
Eventually we found the only remaining road open and had a delightful drive through the Smoky Mountains.
Though I wouldn’t have chosen to leave a Michigan winter and drive ten hours south just to get a highly unusual 27 degrees in Tennessee, we made it there and back safely. And for the record, the mountains were worth it.
STOP.
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Don’t forget to sign up for the upcoming Writing Accountability Group happening in February!
We’ll meet every Friday on Zoom starting in two weeks!
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Join the link-up below with your own five-minute freewrite on the prompt, UNUSUAL, then visit you link-up neighbor to read their post and leave an encouraging comment:Â
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It feels unusual to be
writing through this veil of pain.
It seems that deceased I should be,
yet I am here, and still remain
to bear witness to my road
with its highs and with its lows,
with its heavy weightless load,
boxes tied with pretty bows.
Is it that God would keep me here,
or have I been overlooked,
or have His angels made it clear
that Heaven has been overbooked
and that I just will have to wait
outside the shining pearly gate?
I love the Smoky Mountains. I last visited Gatlinburg in the summer of 1983. We live much closer to the Wisconsin Dells and have been there several times since we got married.