The day she met her stood out, and not just because her life changed. It was one of those perfect days right from the start. She woke up in the moments before her alarm was set to go off, feeling perfectly rested. Her body had gotten the right amount of sleep and her sleep cycles timed themselves out to lift her to waking in the gentlest way. She blinked, stretched, stretched again, and then her alarm went off. She smiled as she took her legs out from the comfort of the covers and reached forward to turn off the alarm. At that point, she didn’t know about the big changes in store – she just knew she’d had a really nice dream and that it was time to start her day. As she padded into the bathroom to do morning bathroom things, a song popped into her head and she started humming along. She let that hum grow into a full-out, concert-worthy, shower song, complete with choreography, as the water flowed down onto her head and shoulders.
“Bravo! Encore!” Her husband’s playful words greeted her as she wrapped the towel around her body. She grinned widely as she took a little bow, holding the towel closed with one hand while the other made a grand flourish before her.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you.” He wrapped her into his arms and kissed the top of her head.
“Why are you awake?”, she asked as she toweled herself off.
“Well, there was this concert in my bathroom, and…” He let the end of the sentence hang there while she clamped her hand over her mouth. “It’s fine. I’m going to go see if I can drum up some tips for you from the neighbors.”
“I wasn’t THAT loud, was I?”
He smiled and said, “no, no. I tease because I love.”
She hung her towel up and walked past him into the bedroom.
“Wow – what kind of dream did YOU have last night? You’re almost bouncing – not that I mind, of course.”
She gave him an exasperated and playful look over her shoulder as she pulled out clothes to wear. “I don’t remember it. I know it was good, though. I am feeling really happy right now for absolutely no real reason.”
“Well, it’s contagious. I am totally down with having a happy-for-no-reason day today.” He turned around and went back into the bathroom and closed the door with one last smile through the crack in the door.
As she put on the layers of clothes she’d need for the day, the song in her head started up again and she found herself dancing a bit. She let the dance moves guide her into the kitchen and to the coffee maker. Even the mundane tasks felt good today, and she started looking forward to the rest of her day. It wouldn’t be a rough one – she had a handful of meetings and then the afternoon was clear for her to sit down and be productive. She thought through the meetings while she packed her lunch and was able to see a clear outcome for each, so clear that she found herself looking forward to the meetings and the work that would come out of them.
He came downstairs with his bathrobe tied closed.
“No work today? I really shouldn’t have woken you!”, she said, feeling terrible about their morning.
“I get to work from home today and tomorrow, and if I get to work from here I also get to work while wearing pajamas.”, he said as he headed for the fridge.
“I totally respect that” , she said. “I’d put my pajamas back on after showering, too, if I was working from home today. Instead, I get to dress like a teacher and, you know, teach. We may have a pajama day next week, though, so there’s that.” Her smile that came with those words was very genuine.
The hug and kiss they shared right before she left was delicious, and the thought of it lingered with her throughout her morning. She was still thinking of it and him when her phone rang over lunch.
“Angie? This is Megan from Infant Placement – do you have a moment?”
She froze in her tracks before answering, “Yes. I mean, hi. Yes, I have a moment.”
“Angie, how soon can you and Cory get to the hospital? I have a baby girl for you.”
* All 30-minute musings are fiction. Any resemblance to people or events is strictly coincidental. *