It seems that we spend most of our of days going through the motions. We rarely slow down to think about what we are doing or why. It's because of this tunnel vision, we tend to miss out on those little moments of joy that end up meaning so much more to us than that extra overtime paycheck or our expensive vacation. It's the moments that aren't marked by photos on social media or blog posts, because for some reason, we decide they are too trivial or too ordinary to share. I'm going to break that concept with this post, and I recommend others do it as well.
The favorite part of my day comes somewhere between 12 AM and 2 AM. That's an odd time, right? Sure, but allow me to explain.
My wife is a creature of habit and goes to bed at 10 PM every night. When I'm working, I'm right there in bed with her. But naturally, I'm a night owl, and on the weekends, holidays, or times when I'm not working like right now, I tend to stay up later. I love the quiet and peacefulness of the evening, and I'm most productive late at night.
Over the past month, I've gone to bed most nights between 12 AM and 2 PM. It's nothing special, I go upstairs, walk into the adjoining bathroom where I brush my teeth, use the restroom, before heading to bed. The moment that brings me so much joy is when I open the bedroom door. The majority of the time, I have a little white fluff ball waiting for me. She walks into the bathroom with her tail up high, purring up a storm, and rubs herself against my legs. Without fail, I pick her up, nuzzle her and pet her before putting her back down. From there, I walk into the bedroom, and she stops by the food bowl by the door and gets a late night snack while I crawl into bed.
By the time I situate myself with my iPad or a book, she's done eating, and she jumps under my covers where she lays against my hip next to the edge of the bed. I usually end up putting my arm down so she can cuddle up next to it without having to worry about falling off the bed. If I'm lucky, our second cat Jupiter comes from under the bed or off of my wife's legs and cuddles up between my legs.
I lay there in the dark with a healthy wife next to me, a cuddly kitty beside me, and sometimes a second one on my legs, and I think about how lucky I am. It's at that moment, I feel truly loved. The meanness of the world washes away and things are just perfect. It usually only lasts fifteen minutes before Khalessi finally decides she is warm enough and heads back to her cat stand to sleep, but those fifteen minutes are the best part of my day and I do my very best not to take them granted.
