5:30 a.m. Husband wakes me up. He doesn’t mean to; in fact, he’s trying his hardest NOT to wake me up. But the stupid bathroom light… or the fan… or the sound of the coffee maker… something always manages to pull me from sleep. I grumble. He soothes. I fall back to sleep.

6:00 a.m. Husband kisses me goodbye.

I love you.

I love you too. Drive safely.

I’ll do my best.

Love you.

Love you too.

I drift back to sleep almost immediately… but… the sound of the key locking the door is The Loudest Thing In The Whole World. Ohmygod make it stop I will NEVER fall back to sleep.

7:40 a.m. Just 10 more minutes…

8:00 a.m. I drag myself out of bed. Turn on my computer. Start a cup of tea in the Keurig machine (reminder to self: must extol virtues of Keurig machine on blog). Check e-mail. Get to work.

12:00 p.m. If work is manageable, I throw on a pair of sneakers and head outside for my walk.

12:30 p.m. Sweaty. Refreshed. Back to work.

6:00 p.m. If husband calls me to tell me he’s on his way home, I nearly die of shock and delight! If the phone stays silent, I grab my sneakers and head outside again. Sometimes I do last night’s dishes.

7:30 ish p.m. We make dinner. Eat it in front of whatever Netflix has sent us. (Lately, Season Two of Mad Men. I covet January Jones’s body/style/makeup.)

8:00 ish p.m. We are done eating. We carefully avoid doing or even mentioning the dishes.

8:30 ish p.m. We finish one episode of Mad Men and start another.

9:00 ish p.m. Husband begins to fall asleep on the couch. He insists he is awake.

9:30 ish p.m. I fool around on the Internet while Husband sleeps.

11:00 ish p.m. I badger Husband until he wakes up. He realizes he has not made his lunch for the following day. One of us makes his lunch. One of us either washes the dishes or decides they will keep until the next day.

11:30 ish p.m. I try to read a book. (Currently Better by Atul Gawande or Loose Girl** by Kerry Cohen.) Instead, I fall asleep. This life – both of us working – is exhausting.

Midnightish. Husband removes my book from my face, turns off my light, and falls asleep beside me.

* This is a non-call day. The call days are similar, only quieter. They sometimes involve takeout, often involve bad TV***, and almost always involve wine.

** I totally just looked up the author of Loose Girl on Amazon. Rather than walking approximately 11.5 feet into my bedroom and looking at the cover of the actual book.

*** For instance, tonight I have watched the original 90210 pilot (parts 1 and 2) and an episode of House.