Happy Five Minute Friday time. Yeah, I know. It’s Sunday. In my defense, I was on the road Friday and at Maine Author Day in Guilford Saturday. All of a sudden, it was Sunday.

The assignment this week was, quite frankly, challenging. The FMF prompt was ANNIVERSARY which conjured up some bittersweet thoughts. I chose to check in with some friends rather than succumb to different directions my mind might wander. But I ran out of excuses, so here I am trying to herd my thoughts into a coherent five minutes. It was quite a challenge.

I wonder if my fellow writers at Kate’s place on Facebook at http://www.fiveminutefriday.com had the same challenge. After this post, I’ll take a peek at the offerings from my writing soulmates. It’s always exciting — and often informative — to see how my fellow FMF friends develop their thoughts in a variety of different genres.

I ’ve been sharing snippets taken from Five Minute Friday: A Collection of Stories Written in Five Minutes Flat. are a testament to the value of the exercise. This week, I’ll share some perspective from Debbie G. who I hope inspires you to check us out.

“FMF has helped me overcome my publish-button-phobia. Publish-button-phobia is the fear of hitting the publish button. It usually affects type A personalities like this gal right here. I believe FMF has helped me with this because of its format pf freestyle writing for five minutes with no or little editing. FMF has helped me be more creative as a simply ‘speak’ from my heart and enjoy the writing process. At my little place in bloggy land I call it — Five Minute Friday Fun. That’s with the emphasis on FUN.”

If you get a chance, stop by Kate’s place. Or, better yet, try your hand at focused, unscripted writing for just five minutes. And share it on Kate’s website.

But for now, the timer is set for five minutes, so let’s see what we’ll come up with. GO …

Anniversary. A bittersweet word.

At the end of the month — the 31st — I would have been celebrating my 50th anniversary with my wife. But the gold was tarnished 10 years ago when, shortly — less than a month — after our ruby 40th, Karen died. So we only physically made it to 40.

That doesn’t mean I still don’t celebrate our anniversary. It’s just quieter … just me and a bronze urn. I usually crack open a bottle of wine and just celebrate in silent reflection of what we had. As I said — it’s bittersweet.

We had so many plans for our retirement. Maine was Karen’s idea. Having freedom from work details and the ability to visit the kids and grandkids in five states was on the horizon. Only it was our plan … not the Divine plan.

I miss her terribly, still, 10 years later. I’ve moved on and found a new … STOP

… home here in Maine, although even that took me on a seven-year journey to the far corners of the state before settling in on the banks of the Piscataquis River in downtown Dover-Foxcroft. In her memory, I planned vacations with the grandchildren {although we are skipping this year}. I’ve made it a point to visit the kids and grandkids as often as I could {never enough}. I dedicated my book to my soulmate, because she never told me I couldn’t do whatever I set my sights on. She knew better — better than myself when doubts crept in.

We packed a lot of adventure in 40 years and a lot of “stuff” in nine moves to five different states. We laughed. We cried. We held on to each other.

Anniversary. A bittersweet word.

But memories … they’re priceless and with me always.

THOUGHT TO REMEMBER: Don’t be full of excuses. Be full of answers.