I Had A Great Title For This But Forgot It On The Way To Writing It

Since the beginning of the holiday season, Chris and I have been falling asleep later and later. So it wasn’t until about 12:30 AM this morning that I finished reading in bed and got up to visit the bathroom one last time. When I returned, I got back into bed. And by that I mean I put my butt on the bed, swung my feet under the blankets, and pulled the covers over me.

We have three blankets on our bed this winter, and the top blanket always drifts to the bottom of the bed by morning, so I had to reach down and grab it. As I pulled it up in one smooth motion, Chris suddenly yelled, “Why are you so fidgety?”

I was surprised, not just because of his loud voice, but also because I knew very well what fidgety was, and fidgety was NOT what I’d just done. Fidgety was me scratching and itching and rolling around and complaining about how much my neck hurt and and wondering whether Flacko would cry tonight and scratch at the door incessantly and asking Chris why I couldn’t fall asleep and shoving Chris every few minutes and saying, “Move over!” or “Stop snoring!” or “Warm my feet up!” and had he heard any gossip at work today?

Indignant, I said, “What? I’m not fidgety!”

He said, “Oh, never mind then. I think I’m asleep.”

“Well, you shouldn’t yell so loud. All I did was get back into bed after going to the bathroom. I didn’t even have time to get fidgety!”

“I’m asleep,” he repeated happily. “I think I remember you fidgeting before you got up for the bathroom, and then I fell asleep, and then you came back and fidgeted and in my mind, it was all the same fidgeting.”

“I was reading, not fidgeting,” I said. I waited a few minutes. There was no response from Chris. Evidently he was really asleep now.

I contemplated waking him up by screaming, “Why are you so fidgety?” but then I remembered all the nights that I had really fidgeted and kept him awake, and I decided to let him sleep. If I wanted to talk later, we could always have a conversation while he slept.

Posted by: ssjane | January 6, 2005 | 10:13 am
Posted in: This Life