I am pleased to participate in Five Minute Friday, a community of writers who, at the release of one prompt, write and publish a blog post about that prompt. And the catch for the writers is this, we can only write for five minutes. It takes planning, it’s takes diligence, and it takes mad editing skills. This week’s prompt is comfort.

When I hear the word comfort, I think of two things. 1. Mashed potatoes (as in comfort food favorites that we usually find at the Thansgiving dinner table), and 2. Death. Mashed potato goodness is obvious, but let’s talk about death. When someone in my family has been terminally ill, I’ve always heard the phrase “let’s provide comfort during this transition to heaven.” And then when the person does pass away, I’ve heard, “let’s provide comfort to the family an close friends of the deceased.” I know there are many other uses for the word comfort, and my mind probably does eventually cross those other meanings, but in the beginning it’s about mashed potatoes and death.

Keep in mind, I do realize that there are many comfort foods served at Thanksgiving, but mashed potates happen to be my favorite. If reading this becomes more palatable by sustituting mashed potatoes with sweet potatoes or deviled eggs or corn casserole, feel free to substitute.

In a weird way this week, my definition changed. It took my car stopping in the middle of heavy traffic on a busy highway in Dallas for me to realize that. Continue reading →