My father was a somniloquist; he only talked to me in his sleep. Lured at night by his one-sided conversation one room over, I would escape the cot I'd grown out of, gaze at my sleeping mother, and ... [+]
The Cancelled Holiday and Other Secrets
Eszter is a former teacher who lives by the windswept British seaside. By day, she teaches and cleans up after preschoolers. By night, she writes flash fiction and stories for children. "The Cancelled Holiday and Other Secrets" is in Short Circuit #15, Short Édition's quarterly review.
Your baby is due in two weeks. Naturally, I'm over the moon about this, but I'm also feeling a bit sentimental . . . hence this letter.
So here I am at the kitchen table, thinking about you and Anna and how your world's about to change. You'll make a terrific father.
But it won't be easy.
There'll be days when you'll question your sanity. Evenings when you just want to shut yourself in your bedroom. Without Anna; without your boy. And one morning you'll wake up and realize that you no longer know who you actually are. Who you used to be before you became a stressed-out parent.