Writing Prompt #8 Write about something that is holy, but also completely everyday. An item, a habit, an action...

 

Ritual

The house is finally quiet

And the lights of the house are all off

And I have stayed up (again)

Way to late. 

I calculate tonight how many hours of sleep I will get if I fall asleep immediately

(I never do – it takes several pillow flips, tuck my blanket around me like a cocoon and several other ridiculous adjustments that go on forever. Then there is the lying awake, considering things that keep me up – why did I say that thing.  Do I seem normal?  Did I mess up my kids today?  Let’s reconsider major childhood issues from new angles…)

I turn the doorknob to my room

And step inside

Dark.

But I know the way.

It is a room that, if you want to put a 2-person bed inside,

And dressers

There really isn’t room for much else except an easement around the frame that you can shimmy around to get to the other side.

That’s what I do now. 

My hands reach out and guide me along the mattress

At the bottom, is my husband’s familiar calloused foot

Sticking out of the blanket

I can hear him breathing in and out 

Asleep, peaceful

Sometimes out dog is on the other side by the closet

Sleeping peacefully by her master on her dog bed

Then, I ALWAYS put my hand on the edge of the bed frame

Which has a squared-off point

Thigh-level

That KILLS if you accidentally hit yourself on it.

Is the window open?

Make sure it is open a crack.

Avoid stubbing my toe on the antique trunk at the foot of my bed (which makes the easement even smaller)

Around the laundry basket

With clothes I mean to put away for the season

Or longer

Around our air conditioning unit

Left over from hot, smoky October days

Even though it is March

One more bedpost – not tonight, you sharp corner…

Then tread on several clothes laying on the ground – my secret messy side of the bed

That no one can see

I plug in my phone to charge during the night

Place a cup of water on the bedside, beside several other cups of dusty water

My “cup farm”, my husband and I call it

And get into bed

So I can lie awake for another 30 minutes

And contemplate

Everything.

Goodnight room

Goodnight doom

Goodnight treacherous bedposts that loom

Goodnight.

~RH