“What is sleep?”
Amity found this question popping into her head nearly every
day. She couldn’t remember the last time
she’d slept through the night uninterrupted. She couldn’t remember the last
time she sat at the dining table to eat a meal, as opposed to hastily heating
something in the microwave and scarfing it down at the computer while trying to
get a few precious minutes of writing in. The twins demanded what felt like
every ounce of her attention. Additionally, Atticus had just begun his first
year of elementary school, and Amity couldn’t help fretting over him while he
was gone during the day. She felt guilty because he wasn’t getting as much of
her attention as the twins were, and she couldn’t help but notice that he spent
more time with his imaginary friend than he did before.
The house fell into a bit of disarray.
To add to the mounting stress, Adam had been promoted to
Team Manager. While she was excited for him and happy that he would no longer
be playing and subjecting his body to injury and strain, it also meant he was
working longer hours and travelling much more.
Which left the household upkeep mostly to Amity.
Luckily, once the twins were toddling, she felt a little
more comfortable leaving them to their own devices.
She tried to get back into writing for her job at the paper.
But more often than not, she found herself staring the computer down like it was
an unwelcome visitor in her home. When she actually mustered the drive to sit
and write an article, her mind wandered. She had no idea where the newfound
lack of focus came from, but it was disruptive and made her feel disappointed
in the quality of her work. She just didn’t have the interest in writing about
local events anymore – she wanted to write whatever she wanted.
She discussed it with Adam the next time he was home.
“Why don’t you quit your job? You can be home full time with
the kids and write whatever you please. I think you’d make a fantastic
novelist, love.”
Amity scoffed. While Adam’s salary was nothing to sneeze at,
raising three children came with a large price tag. She enjoyed the security of
two incomes and couldn’t help but think of how long the payoff would take. It
wasn’t going to be like her job now, where she enjoyed a paycheck once every
two weeks. They would be living off one
income for who-knows-how-long while she wrote on a novel. Not to mention how
busy she was with the kids. When would she ever find the time so sit and work
on a novel?
She dismissed Adam’s suggestion, telling herself that she
would manage somehow.
And right then she decided she couldn’t do it anymore. Adam
was right. She took a deep breath and
called Rajita to give her two weeks’ notice. Her very next phone call was to
the Aurora Skies City Hall to inquire about how to register herself as a
self-employed writer. She immediately felt relieved and excited, but nervous
all at the same time. To her surprise, Rajita took the news rather well and
said she understood. And that was that. Amity was officially a novelist.
Now that her office was at home, Amity made a point to spend
as much time with the kids as possible with her new found novelist amibitions.
She relished teaching Astrid how to walk and talk. As much
as she loved both of her sons, she felt very much attached to Astrid, being the
only other lady in the house. Atticus took to entertaining Brendan whenever
possible, often leaving the little girl out of their playtime. Amity made a
point to try and show her she was loved and accepted as much as possible.
Adam also loved spending time with Astrid. After spending
long days with a team full of men in a male dominated work place, he found it
wonderful and relaxing to come home and have a tiny little girl grasping at his
hands, begging to be picked up.
Atticus was excelling at school and making friends, much to
the delight of his parents. Amity had secretly worried he would grow up so
attached to Hesper that he would end up socially stunted and bullied at school.
However, he began to spend less and less time with his imaginary friend and
more time developing his interests outside of school.
Amity had redecorated his room, complete with a bunk bed for
him and Brendan to share when Brendan was old enough. Atticus spent a lot of
his time in his room, playing pretend or reading his favorite books.
Amity was happy that he took an interest in reading, and she
was all too eager to read him the bedtime stories he asked her to read before
tucking him in for the night.
It seemed like it didn’t take long for the twins to be old
enough to join in playtime with their older brother. Amity could hardly believe
when their birthday crept up on her.
She busied herself with planning a party and with
redecorating the nursery, which would become Astrid’s bedroom.
They aged into beautiful children, and Amity and Adam were
both excited to find that Brendan and Atticus were more willing to include
Astrid in their playtime.
Brendan and Astrid became fast friends. Perhaps it had
something to do with an intrinsic “twin” bond. They shared secrets together,
and played in the backyard whenever they got the chance.
Which left poor Atticus to do his homework all alone some
nights.
But Atticus didn’t mind. He still enjoyed spending time with
his siblings whenever he got the chance. He’d made friends at school, so
between them and the bustling life at home, he never felt lonely.
He even decided to gift his prized doll Hesper to Astrid,
something Amity was not altogether pleased about. She’d been trying to find a
time when none of the children were occupied with the doll to sneak it out of
the house and toss it, but to her dismay, there was never a moment when the
doll was not in someone’s arms.
Amity’s days were occupied with novel writing now that the
children were in school. Despite how much she longed for a moment alone when
they were all babies and toddlers, she now found the house to be too quiet
during the day for her liking. Oftentimes she would turn on the TV or radio
while she was writing, just for the sake of having background noise. It made
her feel less alone.
When the children came home from school, she made sure to
engage them in playtime and have dinner ready before putting them to bed.
\
However, before
putting herself to bed at night (often alone), Amity couldn’t help feeling a
little sorry for herself. She would never ask Adam to give up his career that
he loved, but she was growing weary of spending most of her days alone and only
interacting with him through a telephone wire or an internet browser. She hoped
he would realize sooner rather than later that his family needed him more than
his team did.
Until then, she would just have to keep tucking herself in
at night.
