Early this morning, while I was buried deep in REM sleep, Jen nudged me awake to face Finn, who was standing next to the bed complaining of a nightmare. I followed her back into her room and brushed aside the fog enough to understand she wasn’t going to go back to sleep easily, so I grabbed my pillow and smushed in next to her. In no time we were both out cold.

This morning, as we both stirred, I opened my eyes to find her looking at me. She broke into a big smile and whispered, “I love you, daddy!” and gave me a hug. That made the rest of the day very easy.