I am usually greeted by the casual disarray of books, papers, school bags in the living room, my kids looking up from their work to give me a bright smile, my MIL asking me if I would like a cup of coffee if I happen to be early, but today it is all so tidy but depressingly quiet. I notice a lot of stuff on the coffee table and for an instant think of straightening it,but no. Instead I lock the door, switch on the fan and slump down on the sofa with closed eyes. I hear a faint fluttering noise and think of the butterflies I had seen in the park. I feel a strong urge to call my husband whom I had just spoken to, but no, there are things to be done before that. Without opening my eyes, I make a list of things to do – take a shower and get fresh, openwindows, boil milk, check the fridge, come back to the living room with a cup of hot milk and then call husband. My ears remind me that the fluttering noise is not my imagination. I open my eyes and see yellow butterflies on the coffee table.
I blink and realize they are not butterflies but little yellow sticky notes!! The first one on a book says “I think this book will kick out two days of loneliness.” I open the book to find“Best Kept Secret” by Jeffery Archer, a book I had been wanting to read for awhile.
The second is on a lovely cookie tin set saying “You can spend another two days for baking and store the cookies in these boxes”. I had so wanted to buy cute cookie tins to store my baked goodies!! The one beside the TV remote says “watch comedy movies /programs,strictly no horror.” One on a new small alarm clock says “get enough sleep and rest” and one more on the table says “I will miss you for the next five days,will be with you soon”.
My eyes mist blurring words of endearments and love. It is like he is here with his arm around my shoulder telling me all these things. He knows how scared I get when I watch horror movies alone. He knows I could end up reading a book through the night and not sleep at all. He knows and cares! What more can I ask for?
I pick up the phone immediately; the hot cuppa milk can wait.