Just Write {57}

My husband comes through the door, shuffling in his slippers. He asks me what I’m still doing up. I’m normally an “early to bed, early to rise” kind of sleeper.

I don’t know. I was looking at houses for sale and it’s addicting. I let the iPad fall from my hands to the covers on my belly and yawn while he climbs in and puts his CPAP machine over his goatee, mouth and nose. I giggle. I always do, I can’t help it. I feel like I’m sleeping with a robot or a character out of Star Trek. He has to sort of yell from under the mask for me to hear his seemingly far-away voice…

Stop it!  

Suddenly we’re these parents of three kids and we’re nearing 40 and he has a sleep machine and my favorite thing to do is online real estate searching.

I love it.

It’s getting too close to midnight and I know Morning Heather is going to be mad at Night Heather (Seinfeld reference!), so I put the iPad on the floor and turn to shut off the lamp. Ryan is already dozing. I say, I miss the kids.

What? Why? They’re home.

I know. But staying up this late makes me feel like I haven’t seen them in a long time. They’ve been sleeping for hours.

Oh. I know what you mean…I feel that way most nights. (He is a late-to-bed, late-to-get-up kind of sleeper.)

We’re quiet and shifting around to find a comfortable spot when he says,

Should we go wake them up? 

Then we laugh an over-tired it’s-not-that-funny-but-we-think-it-is kind of laugh. I picture waking up the kids and it sounds awful, how they’d be so tired and out of sorts, asking us what’s up. Oh nothing. We just thought we’d wake you…

No. No. Let’s not. Let’s not wake them. Let’s miss them and then hug them in the morning, tighter.

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This is the 57th installment of Just Write, an exercise in free writing your ordinary and extraordinary moments. {Please see the details here.} I would love to read your freely written words so join me and link up below. You can add the url of your post at any time. Just be sure it’s a link to your Just Write post, not to your main page, and please don’t link to posts that are not written in the spirit of capturing moments–like lists or sponsored posts. Then please link back to this post in your post so people know where to go if they’d like to join in. (Any links not following those two guidelines will be deleted.)

Also. Please take a moment to visit someone else who has linked up! It’s a really good way to meet new writers and get inspired by the meaning behind their moments. Word? Thank you!