Some of my writing friends participate in a weekly writing exercise hosted by Kate Maotaung called Five Minute Friday. Or #fmfparty on social media. I've done this in the past and here's an example. I've decided to use the five minute prompt  for my Hometown Essays series about the recent trip to my hometown after way too long. Five minutes of free writing with no edits. Here's the link to Post#1.

There was a wedding and I love weddings. Anna and her family are like family to me. I have watched her grow up, even babysat her a few times, and looked forward to the big day. She was gorgeous, her sister can still sing, and the younger sister is doing a good job at being her own lovely person without getting lost in the shuffle of three. girls. in. one. family. Mercy!

At the reception, Anna's dad gave the prayer before the meal. Greg. He was my Sunday School teachers all those years ago, and has remained a mentor. Wherever Greg is, his wife Donna is not far behind ready to give the world's best hugs. Seriously, if there was a contest for such a thing she'd blow away the competition. Come to think of it I did in fact get a hug from Donna a few minutes after the prayer.

In the prayer, Greg mentioned how much their family loves a wedding feast. That got my attention and then he did in fact go there. He's not a writer, and is rarely on social media, so I'm going to share this part of the story even though it's his. He won't mind. He prayed,

Lord, we love these wedding feasts because they point to a future feast full of all the best things. We look forward to feasting someday in your presence. Amen.

My cousin and I ran into Greg the day after the wedding at, you probably guessed it, Hy-Vee. We talked about the wedding and he expanded on this idea of a wedding feast, figuring the comparison had caught my attention as well. It had. As he looked around the wedding reception throughout the evening, he realized how true his words had been. Prophetic even.

Anna volunteers at a special needs camp each summer. There was a gentleman camper at the wedding who offered up shouts of praise during the wedding speeches. Later, he took over the dance floor. Repeatedly he said it was one of the best nights of his life.

Anna went to school to learn sign language. She had a number of guests at the wedding who are deaf and they chatted using their hands all evening long. Their form of speech looks like art to me.

Friends and family came together to celebrate a wedding. Plenty of food and drink. There was room at this table and that table for everyone. Yeah, kind of like heaven. As I closed my eyes in slumber that evening, I knew God was smiling down upon this feast.