Five Minutes explores five minutes of a life in one hundred words. Five minutes is edited by Susanna Baird, with editorial support from managing editor Maria s. picone, newsletter editor kate meen, and founding reader bobbi lerman, plus our rotating team of guest readers, who you can meet in the latest newsletteR. Five Minutes was founded in October 2020, with the Salem (Mass.)-based writing group Carrot Cake Writers supplying the journal’s first pieces. We’d love to read your five. Submit here

100:150

When I was six years old I made a promise with my grandpa. “I want to live to be one hundred, so you have to live to be one hundred and fifty.” I wanted to see one hundred, but didn’t want to live in a world without him. I couldn’t, and can't, imagine what my life will look like without my grandpa in it, yet someday I will get a tattoo that says 100:150 and I will remember the innocence and hope that fueled my child and adulthood. When I look at it, I will be reminded of him.

Mercedes Lubbers is a lost academic looking for purpose and passion, owner of two cats and loads of anxiety. Find Mercedes on Instagram @ritzyxritz.

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