Relationship conversations are bound to come up on an all girls trip. While at dinner, in between the gaformon assessment, MyFace was telling us about how she and Handsome Cowboy met. Sleepless asked MyFace how old she was when they met and MyFace replied, “42.” “Oh my God,” said That’s Not Chinese while closing her eyes, placing her hand on her chest, and taking a deep breath, “I have hope.”
Later in the evening, when the others had fallen asleep, Sleepless and I were in the bed chatting it up like two girls at a slumber party – outside of pillow fights, toilet papering and ghost stories, it really was a slumber party. Neither of us sleep much, so we chatted and giggled for an hour or so before finally getting tired enough to say goodnight. The hotel room had a ceiling light that never turned off, just dimmed like a night light, so we could see each other’s faces. “Do you remember when you were in the early stages of a relationship and just staring at your partner’s face while they were sleeping because you still thought they were beautiful?” I asked Sleepless. “No,” she replied. “Hmmm,” I said. “I always did it and was always afraid they might wake up and catch me and, maybe, just maybe, be a little bit freaked out.” “I think it’s cute,” Sleepless sweetly replied.
We finally fell asleep and the next morning I thought I could hear movement in the room. Sure enough, MyFace was up and about. I rolled over hoping to be able to “be cute” with Sleepless, only to find she was one step ahead of me. Sleepless was just laying there staring and smiling. “Oh man,” I told her, “You beat me to it!” She laughed and said, “I’ve been waiting forever for you to wake up. My right ear even fell asleep.” “Sorry about that, I’m glad you still think I’m beautiful,” and then I tilted my head to the side (this is my version of the ‘wink’) and added, “You’re a good friend to pretend to want to watch me sleep.”
As we were headed home, my good friends were there for me again when I would switch the heat over to air conditioning while they were bundled up in blankets, their coats, my coat, scarves and anything else they could find to stay warm. “Sorry about that ladies,” I apologized and added, “There is hope. In a few minutes this hot flash will subside and I’ll turn off the air.” Then, as though it was scripted, Wilson Phillips started playing on the stereo, ‘Don’t you know things can change. Things’ll go your way. If you hold on for one more day…..’ So many opportunities for hope and change – love, sleepwatching, climate – the list is endless.