"Bye Honey," I said after kissing my husband Jacob's cheek.
"See ya later Bells," He replied. He wrapped his arm around my waist and gave me a squeeze before heading out the door to go to work. His warm skin didn't even bother me anymore; it had been a long time, 7 years, since I had been held by any other set of arms, a much colder set of arms… I shook the thought out of my head and watched Jacob drive away through the window.
I stood there for a minute, looking at nothing in particular until a little voice interrupted me. "Mommy, Mommy! Me hungry," It called. I turned around and saw my three year old daughter, Naomi standing in the dimly lit hallway. When she finished talking she stuck her thumb back in her mouth. It was a habit of hers I was trying to break. She was wearing a pink nightgown and dragging her purple blanket that she slept with each night. Her brown, messy, bed head hair that matched the color of mine surrounded her copper toned face.
I crossed the small front room and picked her up. "Well, what do you want?" I asked. "Pancakes?"
She frowned. "No me like pancakes."
"Waffles?"
"No me like those either!" She cried quite loudly in my ear. Why does such a little girl have such a big mouth? I thought.
"I'm going to have some cereal," I said as I entered the kitchen. It was small but cozy with white pantries and cheery décor. The appliances were slightly outdated but that didn't bother me.
"Me too," Naomi said and squirmed out of my arms. She ran to the pantry and picked out the most sugary, chocolaty cereal we had. I grabbed a box of Cheerios and got both of our bowls ready. We sat at the table in the corner of the kitchen and watched as Naomi made a mess of her cereal, spilling milk over the bowl and dropping pieces of it on the floor. She made faces and tried to get me to laugh. She was our little comedian.
It was such a normal day. If I had known that by the end of it my world would be turned upside down I would have done a few things differently. Watched Naomi a little closer as she giggled her way through breakfast, kissed Jacob one last time before he left, kissed him once more before everything changed.