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[Five Minute Friday] Sing


(Yes, this is Saturday. But one of the wonderful things about this link up is that I don't have to write or post this on Friday. Read and enjoy, friends!)

 There is a stack of notebooks and folders a mile high on my desk as I struggle to get organized and string words together in a way that makes sense for this post on my blog. And the notebook on top?

Oh, she sings.

Seven years of dust and dirt from far flung places ground into her cover, the sides of pages that have been thumbed through at least a hundred times. "Short Stories" (and a few doodles) are etched on the front. The binding is shredding, and I will be reduced to using tape to hold it together soon.

But she sings.

Short stories and blogs and devotionals and hopes and dreams, all written in that eleven month vagabond journey where I saw who I was before and who I could be after. I read it now, and the songs she sings carry me back to the resort hostel oasis in Cambodia, the back of a pickup truck in Thailand, the safari vans and matatus and SUVs crammed too full with luggage for seven Americans and twice as many people in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda. I'm playing with gypsy children in Bucharest. I'm wandering the streets of Budapest with college students in search of the perfect pastries. I'm sitting on a train watching a Ukrainian family with love bigger than anyone I've ever known running down the platform, waving and shouting goodbye, and I'm waving back and tryi
ng to not cry because the two weeks I've spent with them is the most connected I've felt to anyone I've met on this journey outside of the people I'm traveling with.

She sings.

And as I flip through the pages and listen, I wonder how much longer I'm going to just listen. How much longer until I make the dreams in those pages a song I'm singing that the rest of the world gets to hear? Is it even a song worth playing?

I don't know, but I never will if I don't try.

Wondering what Five Minute Friday is? Curious about how it works and what other people are writing? Click on the logo to your left. If that doesn't work out for you, visit http://katemotaung.com/five-minute-friday/ for more information or to join the linkup fun.

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Comments

  1. MaxineApril 22, 2017 at 4:25 PM

    You have me curious as to what song your notebook holds, I hope you share it.
    I have a few notebooks, they are not as well loved, but they are getting there.
    Your neighbor from FMF, who also wrote on Saturday.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. CatApril 23, 2017 at 8:50 PM

      Thank you for stopping by, Maxine!

      What's in the notebook is one of a few projects I've been working on in bits and pieces for years. I hope it will come to full fruition. :)

      Delete
  2. LeslieApril 22, 2017 at 10:51 PM

    What a precious notebook

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. CatApril 23, 2017 at 8:50 PM

      It is, indeed, Leslie. Thank you so much for stopping by!

      Delete
  3. CarolApril 22, 2017 at 11:41 PM

    Hello fmf neighbour - I didn't get here until Saturday and that is a lot earlier than on previous occasions.
    I believe I hear the longing and frustration with self in your post and can relate. I hope you do realise your dream (soon) and allow your words to sing from the page and screen, delighting readers with your stories and memories and creative ability.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. CatApril 23, 2017 at 8:55 PM

      Thanks for stopping in, Carol! I've had a lot of trouble convincing myself I could write an fmf post on a Saturday, so I'm feeling very accomplished for having gotten a post written.

      I'm hopeful the dream will become a reality soon. Right now, I feel like I've been in my own way, so maybe if I can learn to not interfere with myself... :)

      Delete
  4. Emily Ann HupeApril 23, 2017 at 8:18 AM

    I cannot wait to hear your song. You desk and notes remind me so much of my own. Thank you for sharing your beautiful words.

    ReplyDelete

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