The Perfect Nap

I am waking up from a nap all on my own. I am aware of the perfect weight of the blanket that covers me, enough to feel how impossibly soft it is, enough to keep off the chill of the swamp cooler, not enough to smother me. I notice how comfortable is the pillow where my head is resting, and the bed that holds my body. I feel the bliss of a sweet, uninterrupted, perfectly timed 20 minute sleep cycle. In those 20 minutes, alone by myself with no one to wake me before I am ready, so much has been accomplished. I feel restored. Over the hum of the cooler I hear shrieking and laughter now and then from the back yard, where Sam is chasing His Jim around with a hose. My heart feels full with love and gratitude for their presence in my life and, just for this moment, their absence from this room. The more awake I become, the more aware I am of the dull ache of a full bladder wanting my attention and I know this moment is coming to an end, but it is a time of perfect bliss, gratitude and clarity and I want to remember it.

A nap. There is nothing in the world like a well slept, happily woken from nap.

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Things We Did Today:

Spent an hour or so putting on and taking off animal costumes and pretending to be animals (well, Sam put on the costumes, they are much too small for me!)

Did our new amazing wooden animal jigsaw puzzle over and over.

Sam played with His Jim outside and then got Jim to play Play Doh while they waited for their lunch. Later Sam and I spent a good long time at the table, making Play Doh bugs for Malthasar, the villain in Arthur and the Invisibles. Sam noticed that he liked to eat bugs and, in his new life as Princess Selenia, Sam seemed to feel it would be nice to offer Malthasar some bugs. As the colors mixed and smudged into one another, I felt myself finally relaxing about that. Contrary to the belief I've been holding since I was a kid, the world is full of Play Doh and if we mix this up, dry it out, stomp on it, ruin it, grind it into the carpet, there is plenty more where that came from--we can buy it, we can make it, it will be there if we want it. And Sam really doesn't care what color it is, he just loves it. And now, finally, so do I.

Jumped on the Daddy's bed and made him wake up and play for a while, which Sam loves.

Read books.

Watched movies.

Lived our lives together as a family.