Bliss

Last night my husband came home from work. Dishes overflowed in the sink, the kids were running all over the place, and the dog had just shed enough hair on my wood floors for me to knit a sweater with.

Go, he whispered in my ear. Get out of here now while you still can. Go to the gym. Read a book. Take a sauna. Let me force vegetables on the children and beat them into submission so that they might clean your house. He gently kissed my cheek. Now run!

And so I did. I went to the gym (a snowstorm earlier in the day had kept me away). I ellipticalled. I read a book. I showered. I saunaed. I showered and saunaed again. I lingered. I had some fresh juice.

And then I came home. The children were in bed. The house was spotless. The lights were low and Billie Holiday played while my husband poured champagne.

All the late nights, the harried days, the tax stress - everything - gone.