We keep different schedules, my husband and me.
He can stay up late: if the card game lasts into the wee hours, if he's watching a football game, if he needs to finish a task. I however have a battery that rarely lasts past 10:30 p.m. If I have a project that must be finished by the next day, I clock out and wake early.
No late night shenanigans for me...which means Tony waited for the children to come home; Tony built the bicycles on Christmas Eve; Tony stayed up with the baby who refused to sleep.
The nights are rare when we retire at the same time--rarer for us to awake in sync.
After a particular hectic few days, when we are passing barges in the day and night, I awake around 5:00 a.m. It is still dark. I roll out of bed, kneel against the bed, my body draped over the bed. He awakens and wonders if I'm dead. He wonders if I died the night before while saying my prayers and if I've been laying there the entire night.
When he tells me this story, we both laugh. A hard laugh, cause I can see myself as he saw me, almost as if my spirit watched the whole incident like the people who've had near-death experiences, describe.
He reassures me of his concern, "I laid still trying to hear your breath. You were breathing."
I guess this is what old age comes down to--wondering if the person next to you died in the night.
Honestly, I've wondered it myself. Those middle of the night wake-ups when he was so still, angelic looking, and quiet. I've wondered if he slipped out of his body suit and drifted to heaven.
I wait. I listen... I hear him breathe.
He can stay up late: if the card game lasts into the wee hours, if he's watching a football game, if he needs to finish a task. I however have a battery that rarely lasts past 10:30 p.m. If I have a project that must be finished by the next day, I clock out and wake early.
No late night shenanigans for me...which means Tony waited for the children to come home; Tony built the bicycles on Christmas Eve; Tony stayed up with the baby who refused to sleep.
The nights are rare when we retire at the same time--rarer for us to awake in sync.
After a particular hectic few days, when we are passing barges in the day and night, I awake around 5:00 a.m. It is still dark. I roll out of bed, kneel against the bed, my body draped over the bed. He awakens and wonders if I'm dead. He wonders if I died the night before while saying my prayers and if I've been laying there the entire night.
When he tells me this story, we both laugh. A hard laugh, cause I can see myself as he saw me, almost as if my spirit watched the whole incident like the people who've had near-death experiences, describe.
He reassures me of his concern, "I laid still trying to hear your breath. You were breathing."
I guess this is what old age comes down to--wondering if the person next to you died in the night.
Honestly, I've wondered it myself. Those middle of the night wake-ups when he was so still, angelic looking, and quiet. I've wondered if he slipped out of his body suit and drifted to heaven.
I wait. I listen... I hear him breathe.
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