I Heard Laughter From the Bathroom and Relaxed Without Meaning To

Dear Delyara, Both children were in there together for some reason, and usually that is a warning sign — too much noise, too much splashing, too much chance that toothpaste or water or a minor argument is about to become my next problem. But this time it was just laughter. Real laughter. The loose ridiculous kind that arrives before children become self-conscious again. I stood outside the door for a second and let myself enjoy it. Because tired mothers become too alert too often. We begin reading sound as danger, need, interruption, consequence. And when sound turns out to be joy instead, the whole body can feel the difference before the mind fully registers why. That laughter softened something in me. It did not solve the week. It made the evening more human. That was enough.