The Nap

As a mother, sometimes I feel like I walk around in a perpetual state of exhaustion.  I yawn while drinking my coffee, while paying for groceries, in line at the bank, and I think I must even yawn in my sleep.  I am always going, always doing something.  Even on the rare occasion when I'm doing nothing, I am thinking of all the things I should be doing.  Raising two children who are less than a year and a half apart, seems like running a marathon everyday.  At least, I think so.  I don't have time to run, so I'm just guessing here.  There are days, when even after a full night's sleep, I feel like a zombie.

Today was one of those days.  Luckily for me, there was very little on the agenda today other than snuggling.  We had some friend's stop by for lunch, and by the time they left, I could barely keep my eyes open.  Nick was home for the afternoon, which was a special treat.  He took one look at my heavy lidded eyes, and said the most magical words a mother will ever hear; "I can watch the kids, why don't you go take a nap?"

I was up the stairs like I'd been fired from a cannon.  I crawled into my bed, and buried my head into my pillow.  I usually can't nap in the middle of the day, I get distracted by the noises of my children and the lists in my head, and end up just laying there until I give up on the whole idea.  If I do manage to fall asleep, I wake up groggy and disorientated, and the rest of my day is effectively ruined.  Neither of those things happened today.  I crashed almost immediately, and slept like a rock for two hours.  I awoke to the sounds of the kids and Nick downstairs, and slowly pulled myself back to the land of the living. 

The rest of the afternoon was a typical juxtaposition of fun, happy kids, and rotten little beasts who I didn't recognize as my own children.  While I was cooking dinner, and simultaneously trying to keep the squirts from melting down, I kept looking at Nick and smiling.  He gave me a wonderful, and very well timed gift this afternoon.  Who knows if his children would have lived until dinner without it.  All I know is that I got some much needed rest, and it was beautiful.