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A Love Letter to My Husband, From Mrs. Chronically Asleep

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I know you think I can’t see or hear anything once I’ve passed out on the bed. For the most part, you’re right. But when you get up and move the sheets around, it does make some noise… even through earplugs. There are some things that someone who is over-sensitized due to lack of sleep can’t help but notice.

Like the way you whisper to the dog to try to get her to scoot out from under the covers without waking me up. It doesn’t work, but it’s adorable. Or how you climb into the closet in the dark and shut the door almost all the way and then turn the light on, to keep the room dark.

 

I also love that you’ll leave the door open so the dog can get back in later, because you know that otherwise I’ll wake up by myself. And I love the “food shrines” you build next to me when you know I’ve had a hard few days and won’t be fending for myself very well. It’s always nice to wake up to a small mountain of food on the nightstand. Everyone expresses love differently, right?

I like the pillow thrones you’ll build me when I just can’t get comfortable. Who wouldn’t, seriously? It’s the sweetest.

I love that, after you’ve blacked out the room for me because I have a migraine, you tell our nieces (and the dog) that they’re not allowed to talk (very nicely) and only then are they allowed to come in and give me a hug. And that you’ll always rub my feet for an age and bring me ice packs and deal with my crabbiness, because you know it’s not your fault. You remind me I still need to drink, if I won’t eat, and you offer to threaten any doctors within a five-mile radius into getting me whatever I need.

But what I really love is when my pain gets really bad and I can’t do much, you’ll sit right down on the couch with me and Netflix until 2:00 in the morning, and not tell me I’m wasting my life, or I should be exercising, or “at least it’s not as bad as…”

You’re basically the best. I just don’t tell you enough. So… you’re the best.

Love,

Mrs. Chronically Asleep

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Originally published: July 20, 2017
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