Signs of a good marriage? or just insanity?

Usually Mike and I go to bed at different times but every once in awhile I am tired and go to bed early (thank you, Ambien). Anyways, last night I actually went to bed a short time before Mike. I was sitting in bed thinking about what I needed to do the next day when the Ambien kicked in and I was sleepy enough to fall most of the way asleep sitting up with my chin tucked against my chest. Mike came down the stairs and we had the following conversation:

Mike: What are you doing?

Me: [opening my eyes but not really moving] Sleepin'.

[Mike climbs into bed next to me]

Mike: Why don't you lay down?

Me: I'm going to - I just got really tired all of a sudden. I think it's the Ambien.

Mike: Ah. You're all drugged up.

[Mike then proceeds to make a "Woooooooo" noise while he moves his open hand toward and away from my face in, I suppose, an attempt to simulate drug induced hallucinations. This does little for me but he is apparently cracking himself up.]

Then Mike gets up and turns out the light on his side of the bedroom and we settle in to sleep. I have this thing about walking across the bedroom in the dark. I can't do it. Well - I can walk across but I have to, like, pole vault into bed. Ever since I saw Pet Semetary when I was a kid, I've had this irrational fear that something's going to reach out from under my bed and cut my Achille's tendon. Yeah, you laugh but watch that movie - that part with the demon kid and the old guy scarred me for life. I'd actually gotten over it - you know, 10 years later...and then we got Furio. When he was a kitten he loved to jump out and scare you. Pounch. And his FAVORITE thing to do was wait until you were getting into bed in the dark and grab your legs with his claws. He didn't just do it. He'd wait until you'd thrown one leg in and were about to lift the other one and he'd grab it. The first time he did it, I screamed so loud that Mike shot straight up out of bed. And now that silly fear is back. So Mike turns out the lights at night.

Anyway, we settled in to sleep and were discussing the previous day and the matters we'd need to attend to the next. This is the best time of the day for me - on the occasional day our schedules align. Talking to Mike in the dark while I stare up at our starry ceiling. The previous tenants put glow in the dark stickers on the ceiling and when you turn the lights off, it looks like a starry sky. It's great. Anyway, I don't know how it got started - but it went from talking about what we had to do the next day to trying to make each other laugh. I know it started because Mike said "boobs" for no reason. We've been watching "The Office" and Ricky Gervais' new HBO show "Extras." Within the last couple of weeks there have been episodes on both shows where they just thrown out "boobs" for no reason. Two weeks ago, Michael from The Office turned on the voice software on his computer and made his monitor into his "friend" named Harvey who just out of nowhere said, "Boobs," which made Michael (and oddly enough my Mike, too) crack up. Then this week on Extras, Andy's (Ricky G) brainless, clueless (hilarious) manager used a calculator to 'write' the word "boobs" and showed it to some of Andy's fans saying, "Well, if you liked Andy's show, you'll like this." I know it loses something in the translation - but the common denominator for both is the fact that both incidents cracked Mike up.

Anyway, it all started with Mike throwing out the word "boobs" to make me laugh. Pretty soon it had evolved into us exchanging random bits of dialogue from Saturday Night Live's Celebrity Jeopardy skits.

"I'll take 'the rapists' for $100."

"Meso. Yes - a kind of soup. How much did you wager? Horny."

"It's a friggin hammer!"

We layed there getting more and more outrageous, trying to make each other laugh for probably another 30-45 minutes before we finally settled down to sleep. Mike with Meme on his feet, me with Furio snuggled against the back of my legs.

Did I have a point to this story? Not really. Sometimes you gotta sit back and just be grateful for what you've got because life has a way of knocking you off balance and then kicking you while you're down. It's important to remember that there are some things (or people) that you can count on to make you happy. Always.