false alarm

Last night I was awakened from deep sleep by the beckoning sound of "mama" coming from somewhere in the house. From much experience, I have found that staying in my warm bed hoping that the person calling for me will somehow resolve their own problem (including but not limited to: being thirsty, throwing up, growing pains, bad dreams, remembering something they are mad about, losing the miniscule toy they went to bed with down the crack between the bed and the wall) will just result in an escalation of the problem and louder plaintive wails that will wake up the entire household. So, I grabbed for my glasses and began making the rounds. Cole, asleep. Clayton, check. Cooper, check. Could I be so lucky as to be able to return to my warm bed without having to negotiate with an unreasonable 3 year-old at 2 am? I headed back to my room when...wait...there it was again. Ma-ma. Ma-ma. It sounded like it's...could it be...coming from my room? I entered the room and waited. There it was again. I quietly approached my poor husband in his Benadryl induced coma who has been suffering from many respiratory maladies as of late (including pneumonia). I stepped closer and discovered the problem. His nostril. Yes, it was actually his nostril calling out in a high-pitched, almost child-like squeal: inhale "ma", exhale "ma." Mama. Thankfully, after many years of conditioning, I am able to go back to sleep almost instantly. I reported the incident to him in the morning but I think he did not believe me. Only a mother could hear her name and be roused from a deep sleep by the call of a nostril. I better get flowers on Mother's Day this year.