AN ANNIVERSARY, A THROWBACK, AND AN FMF PROMPT

This post was written for Five Minute Friday

Word prompt--ENGAGE

Five minutes to free-write about it

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Once again, I have a dilemma. How to get the word prompt to fit with what I'd like to share, since I really would like to engage with my FMF friends and participate in the challenge. 

Yesterday, was my blog's 18th anniversary, and my plan was to write a special post to commemorate the occasion. Instead, I found myself engaged in so many things the day escaped me and I completely forgot. 

In hindsight, what I should have done was pre-write the post and schedule it to post on the day of. 

Among the things I had wanted to share was how a few days ago I came across an old e-mail sent to me by my first blog friend 14 years ago. It brought back memories of my very first blog post, and of how she had been the first person to leave me a comment. 

She no longer blogs, so I sent her a message on Facebook and we engaged in a nice little chat. A lot of water has flowed beneath both our bridges during the past 18 years, and it felt good to touch base and engage with her again.

So that's it for my five minutes this week. The rest of this post is a throwback. It's a reprint of that very first post to commemorate both my blog's 18th birthday, and 18 years of a bloggie friendship. (I've added a link to the original post in case you would like to read that very first comment she left me as well.)

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"I do not understand what I do. ...For what I do is not the
good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I
keep on doing." (Romans 7:15,19)

Frustration at not being able to set up this blog page to look the way I want it to has led me to open up the tightly sealed tub of Trader Joe Triple Ginger Snap cookies made with fresh crystallized ginger that I had bought for my daughter Joanne to try, and "hidden" away until I see her. Bad move! I knew that Trader Joe Triple Ginger Snaps is not something I should have in my house, but I thought that putting them out of sight would keep me from eating any. Ha! That tub of cookies is now 12 lighter. I hope I get to see Joanne soon.

This takes my thoughts way back to a Christmas eons ago when I lived in Jackson Heights and had a good friend, "British" Margaret, who loved those huge, oversized Cadbury chocolate bars with the fruit and nuts, and the caramel, and I don't even remember what all else. That Christmas I decided that the perfect gift for her would be one of each kind. I think there were six varieties, which I purchased, wrapped ever so carefully, and put under the Christmas tree.

Now there were two problems I hadn't considered, and which proved to be my undoing. Number one, I also loved those huge, oversized Cadbury bars, AND, Margaret didn't show up the day before Christmas to pick up her gift as planned.

Christmas came and went, and after a few days of seeing that carefully wrapped gift all alone under the tree, I couldn't take it any longer. It seemed to be calling my name, and after a brief struggle with my conscience, gluttony got the best of me. Carefully I unwrapped the gift, slid out one Cadbury, and rewrapped the other five. She will never be the wiser, I rationalized. Still Margaret did not come, and I wound up repeating this shameful process five more times.

When my good friend Margaret finally dropped by, I had no gift to give her. How embarrassing! Fortunately she was a real sport about it, and we ended up having a good hearty chuckle. Hope this doesn't turn out to be deja vu where Joanne's cookies are concerned.