"Home Sweat Home"

My husband and I often have conversations as we lie in bed.  Confession:  I do my best to keep him awake so that "I'm not left alone with my thoughts."  He laughs when I say things like this- but it's true.  He wakes up quite early and therefore has a wonderful gift of falling asleep very quickly, so I often engage him in these whispered conversations in an effort to keep his undivided attention on me as he drifts off to sleep.

And if my conversations aren't interesting enough I will fling myself atop his chest, sometimes slinging my pillow as well, and proceed to rest on his warm and heavy heartbeat.  I know it must be uncomfortable for him, and this gives me a sad sense of satisfaction to know we are both awake and thinking of one another in that moment.

But tonight I managed to engage him in chatter.  I was seeking attention so I told him I was feeling lonely and needed him to stay awake with me.  Of course he laughed because he knows I am just in a mood.  But I managed to squeeze some late night attention from him and a back rub.  Lucky me.

And I started with the questions: 

Wife: "What's your favorite thing about California?"

Man: "You"

Wife: "O.K., second favorite thing?"

Man: (Pauses...) "I guess how liberal it is" (conversation ensues....)

Wife:  "What's your favorite thing about my family? (To which I offered "That they don't live with us?")

Man: (Laughs).  "That they don't let you be shy.  They don't give you a choice- you pretty much have to participate in everything they do."

..... And wife searches for more things to talk about....

Wife: "Have you ever had a treehouse?"

Man: "No."

Wife: "Me neither, but I always wanted one.  I made a house around a tree, though."

Man: "Yea, we made a house in a hole some workers had dug and it had a sign that said "Home Sweat Home"

... and we both burst into laughs at youthful mis-spelling.  "Sweat" instead of "Sweet".  Endearing.

Wife: "Did you know it said 'Sweat'.

Man: (sheepishly) No.  I thought that's how it was spelled.

Wife: "Who built it?"

Man lists several boys names

Wife: "Did you all fit?"

Man:  "No, we had to take turns".

We laughed a bit more, and I was able to stop being selfish and let my husband fall asleep.  It was enough for me to stop my mind from working over-time with insomnia.  To think about a hole and a sign that read "Home Sweat Home" instead of all of the things I needed to do before the weekend.  Instead of thinking about lists, work appointments, flood insurance, truck insurance payment and the like.  Not tonight. 

Tonight I just can't stop seeing the house I built around the tree.  The one that, despite being built atop dirt I swept everyday, and picturing my future husband sitting in a hole (a bungalow he calls it) and taking turns with others to sit inside it.

And now we have a warm, love-filled home.... together.

Our own "Home Sweat Home".