Here we are, back at Five Minute Friday! Today is the day I write for the sake of writing. I love this day.
Today’s writing prompt is… PAINT.
Five Minute Friday
When he was four, he never painted at home. He didn’t like to craft at our kitchen table while I hovered over his elbow wiping up the mess and making “helpful” suggestions. He didn’t want to share the experience with his adoring little brother.
He would paint at school. Joyously and with abandon, he painted.
His stained shirts and pants and even socks bore silent witness to his love of crafting. So did the glue and glitter that would find their way into his hair.
Each time he would paint, it was the same.
A train.
Just the engine.
Normally a red one with the number five smeared in yellow paint somewhere in the middle. But sometimes, it was a blue one with number one.
And always, at the top in the precise lettering of his teacher, the phrase “To Robert, Love William.”
Each one a gift of love to his adoring little brother.
All the way home, they would chatter and talk about the picture. Once home, they would spend the afternoon playing trains… building a world of complex wooden track, Duplo block stations, and Happy Meal Toy characters.
The trains and Duplo blocks and plastic toys are long gone. My boys no longer live in the world of trains. I no longer hear the happy sounds of “chuff chuff chuff” and “woo wooooooooo.”
But somewhere, buried in the papers, is a stack of watercolor trains. Each one lovingly painted by my son.
STOP.
Five Minute Friday is hosted by LisaJo Baker on her blog. Five minutes of free writing flash mob goodness.
Other voices on the same writing prompt can be found on LisaJo’s blog – go check out a few!
If you aren’t familiar, the rules are simple. Lisa-Jo gives a single word writing prompt every Friday. Each of us have five minutes to write and post. No editing, no second guessing, no fancy stuff. Just plain writing – straight from the heart. (click HERE for the official rules and details). Then we go visit other participants and shower them with comment love
Latest posts by Susan Baker (see all)
- Rest – part 1 - October 15, 2018
- The least bad thing - October 10, 2018
- Unedited - October 9, 2018
- How M&M’s teach self-control - December 16, 2014
- Three Steps to a Simpler Saner Christmas - December 15, 2014
How sweet !!! It still amazes me how much my kids love each other as much as they may have fought when they were younger. LOL !!!
Amy recently posted..Paint {Five-Minute Friday}
Mine fight like ninjas – it’s hard to watch them duke it out for supremacy on a daily basis. But deep down, I know the love is still there.
Susan Baker recently posted..Five Minute Friday – Paint
I know one day I will miss my son saying "Chugga Wugga Woo Woo." (His interpretation of a train sound.) He is two years old and is crazy about trains. He loves Thomas the train engine, Little Engine that could, and his favorite bedtime story is entitled "Little Engine's Big Job." Thank you for the reminder to treasure these moments.
You will miss it. We still tell the boys that they are “causing confusion and delay” and call them “troublesome trucks” when appropriate.
When they were deep in train-love, the crosswalks were called “people tracks” and they would chuff across.
This reminds me of our house that is almost always covered with “paint.”
David Ryan recently posted..thecalculatr.com