If you're lucky, you wake up looking at the shoulders of the person you love, as she sleeps soundly. Here are some other ways i've woken up:
1. Cheap hotel somewhere in the desert between Phoenix and San Diego, mid 1980s: Rolled over, opened my eyes, and the first thing I saw was an enormous spider web, with a grasshopper still struggling.
2. Himalaya foothills, 1988. Woke in the middle of the night to the sound of rain on the tent. Then there was a frantic digging sound, as the porters and Sherpas went out to funnel the water away from us. Then there was a yelp from the trek leader, as the porters and Sherpas finished digging the trenches so that all the water led right into her tent.
3. Japan, 1986. Earthquake. The whole house shaking. I woke and felt strangely reassured.
4. Somewhere in France, somewhere around 2000. First thought: I love this woman.
5. Wrangell, Alaska, 2001. The bear woke me around 2 am, when he came to eat berries off the bush outside my bedroom. Not the first time, not the last time this was going to happen. But when I woke again later, around 6:30 or so, all I could think of was how lucky I was to be waking up in Alaska, to get to go outside and smell where the rainforest meets the ocean again.
6. 2004, New Zealand. My hotel room cost NZ $ 1700 a night. There was a view that absolutely couldn't be beat, there was a fireplace, a bathtub big enough to float a wallaby. I'd spent the day frantically driving to see the Bra Fence before dark came on, fell asleep fast and hard, like I rarely do. Woke in the night, stepped outside, and did not recognize a single star. Not one. Could have been standing on another planet.
7. Venice, 2005. Still dark out, the very fine click of high heels on the pavement outside, almost a doppler effect in incredibly slow motion: she approaches, she's here, she's gone, and although it would have been the easiest thing in the world to get up, take a look, see who is out walking alone this late at night, sometimes you just have to let the universe keep its mysteries.
1. Cheap hotel somewhere in the desert between Phoenix and San Diego, mid 1980s: Rolled over, opened my eyes, and the first thing I saw was an enormous spider web, with a grasshopper still struggling.
2. Himalaya foothills, 1988. Woke in the middle of the night to the sound of rain on the tent. Then there was a frantic digging sound, as the porters and Sherpas went out to funnel the water away from us. Then there was a yelp from the trek leader, as the porters and Sherpas finished digging the trenches so that all the water led right into her tent.
3. Japan, 1986. Earthquake. The whole house shaking. I woke and felt strangely reassured.
4. Somewhere in France, somewhere around 2000. First thought: I love this woman.
5. Wrangell, Alaska, 2001. The bear woke me around 2 am, when he came to eat berries off the bush outside my bedroom. Not the first time, not the last time this was going to happen. But when I woke again later, around 6:30 or so, all I could think of was how lucky I was to be waking up in Alaska, to get to go outside and smell where the rainforest meets the ocean again.
6. 2004, New Zealand. My hotel room cost NZ $ 1700 a night. There was a view that absolutely couldn't be beat, there was a fireplace, a bathtub big enough to float a wallaby. I'd spent the day frantically driving to see the Bra Fence before dark came on, fell asleep fast and hard, like I rarely do. Woke in the night, stepped outside, and did not recognize a single star. Not one. Could have been standing on another planet.
7. Venice, 2005. Still dark out, the very fine click of high heels on the pavement outside, almost a doppler effect in incredibly slow motion: she approaches, she's here, she's gone, and although it would have been the easiest thing in the world to get up, take a look, see who is out walking alone this late at night, sometimes you just have to let the universe keep its mysteries.
posted by e. Readicker-Henderson at 1:59 PM
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