Something Was Missing When I Woke Up This Morning
I’d love to say I’ll never find it again, but I know I will
I woke up this morning the way I wake up most mornings. I rolled over with the intention of going back to sleep, but the dog realized I was awake. She hopped down into the floor and came to lay her chin on the edge of the bed, staring at me with eyes that said, “Mom, I need to pee.”
Then, I realized I needed to pee. Though it wasn’t yet 5am, it was close enough, and I knew that meant we were up for the day.
Azula and I headed down the stairs. Me, clumsy and groggy, careful not to miss a step in my pre-coffee stupor. Her, all puppy energy, eager and racing to beat me downstairs.
I let her out and watch carefully to make sure the groundhog that’s taken up residency next door isn’t out and about. Same old, same old. She finishes her business and heads back towards me at a run, eager for breakfast.
It isn’t until I’m pouring coffee beans into the grider that I realize what’s missing. For the first time in two and a half weeks, I woke up without a headache this morning. Not even the dullest whisper of pain, the faintest wiff of tightness.
I pause for a moment to let this sink in. It’s strange, really, how the absence of pain takes longer to…
