I would sleep like I haven't slept in a year.

Hello.
It's been awhile.
Blame it on being busy, unmotivated, the weather being too nice (luckily THAT'S over). The thing about taking an unplanned hiatus is that you find it so overwhelming to get back into what was so easy at one time. This includes writing, as so many other things - art, photography, cooking, letter correspondence, etc.

So instead I'm going to do myself a favor and begin with a simple prompt, because we all need  little boost to do hard things sometimes.

If you could do anything, what would you do today?

Breakfast with my college friends. I would tell them how much I miss them and how much I've changed - the things I can't tell them over email. We would laugh and laugh and laugh at nothing, but at everything. I would touch Audra's pregnant belly.  We would listen and oogle over baby pictures, new houses, and new adventures.  I would get waffles, because I think I forget what those taste like.

I'd buy new jeans - ones that don't have holes where my thighs rub together constantly.  I would bring my friends Steph and Dawn with me because they are marathon shoppers and "yes" people.  I would also consider new shoes that don't have holes in the soles, and look great with my new jeans. We would get coffees and Auntie Annes, even though Steph is eating paleo...since I can do anything, I would make Auntie Annes have paleo pretzels.

Since it's my day, it would be summer in Northern Michigan and we'd go to the beach armed with sunscreen and shovels. My skin would feel hot under the sun, but the water would feel cool on my toes. The sand would squeak under my feet.  Lunch would come in the form of crusty bread, cheeses and turkey, with plenty of grapes of Liam to have his share while the rest of us still get one or two. Sand doesn't get in the food on today.

I would meet my friends from our last recent home for dinner at one of the new restaurants I haven't tried. It would be dark and candlelit, and would make us feel fancy and adult-like. We would laugh about our husbands, and I would probably cry at some point, because that's what I do when we get together and talk about our babies and them growing up.  I would probably just start crying the minute I saw them because I do that too.

There would be a movie with my husband, in a real movie theater, with the kind of movie-theater popcorn they have in the States, extra butter, and forty different flavored salts to pour over the top.

Afterwards drinks in a Toledo bar with the friends I already rarely get to see from home.  Travis would be there from North Carolina. Michelle would be up from Columbus.  Tiff and Dawn would be able to leave the babies at home.  We'd laugh at all of the stories we have to catch up on since I've been gone for so long.  Michelle will tell me about her wedding.  I'll cry again, because that's what I do, and it's been so long.  There are new babies, new husbands, new everything.

On the drive back to my mom and dad's house I would hold Dustin's hand.  We would crawl into bed with our sleeping babies surrounding us, and I would sleep like I haven't slept in a year.