A PLACE TO KEEP A COUPLE SECONDS WORTH REMEMBERING

For seemingly no reason at all I woke up in the middle of the night. I was sandwiched between two dogs and a beautiful woman during a brisk fall night. In my haze between waking and dreams I felt the brief blissful moment of not knowing what time it was, what day it was, or even exactly where we were at the moment. We had moved a lot together and I still hadn't quite gotten used to waking up in this specific apartment. I did know that with these three creatures pressing closely against me for warmth, and love it was the right place for me to be. If only I could have held onto that moment forever. All of these things experienced within the drowsy seconds; the shifting of our bodies, adjustments to feel that we were all still right where we should be, a stretching paw, a hand held tightly to the chest, a foot escaping from the bottom of the blankets, an exhale, the distant sound of a train passing, the windblown curtain letting cool air in, grabbing onto hips that press slightly back into me, and running my hand along her curves to feel the warmth of her arched back. A fleeting moment of arousal that immediately becomes nullified by the tidal wave of sleep that washes us all back into the nothingness.