sleep

"Sleep good," my friend called from her bedroom doorway. "Sleep well," her daughter replied.

Instantly -- before I could even take a breath-- the words flooded to the forefront of my mind. Right on cue, they were all I could hear.

"Sleep however you want."

That's what my husband would always say. And though I haven't heard it, or even thought it, in a very long time, it crept up on me tonight. It took me by surprise and left me with tears. And a smile.

For all the hell the past few years have been, my ten-year marriage had a lot of good in it. And I am grateful for those memories, those instinctual thoughts, that still come. Though they sting, and though I am tired of tear-stained cheeks, there are some things I hope I never forget.

Sleep however you want.

Sleep however you want.