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 and founding reader bobbi lerman; May READERS Darcy alsop, PRERNA BAROOAH, AMITA BASU, Sarina Caragan, Antony Püttschneider, and Elisa Rivera; and May Editorial intern sienna lew. 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

For All of Us

My husband and I walked hand in hand with our son to Children’s Church. “Is this church the one,” I thought. “We’ve been coming here for six weeks, and it works for J and I, but does it work for our son? Will they love him and his differences?” My son smiles. I open the door. A child sees him and runs towards him, yelling his name. He hugs my son. The teacher calls for the boys inside. My husband and I look at each other and instantly breathe a sigh of relief. Finally, a church for ALL of us.

Deirdre Parker is a teacher from Maryland. She is a proud wife and mother of a sweet boy through adoption. Find Deirdre at deirdreparkeryoung.medium.com and adopting.org/author/dparker/ and on Twitter @singsongmd and Instagram @deirdreyoung77.

Simply

Mistaken