Charlie hasn't been sleeping well lately, so this morning when Nathan went to work, I stayed in bed, curled up with the warm sleeping baby next to me.  I was so tired I didn't even hear the front door close as Nathan left the house.

I dreamed that my sister, Stacy, and I were camping in a motor home.  Makes sense, we did that with our grandparents a lot while growing up.  But as we were setting up camp, there came this weird ringing noise.  It was repetitive and annoying.  So we started looking around the motor home for the cause.  Couldn't find anything.  It would stop for a minute or two, but then start up again.  We were looking in cupboards, at the plumbing, even in the wiring and engine.  Nothing would stop the ringing.  Finally, Stacy found a bell in the closet, took it out and the ringing stopped.  We rejoiced and announced to everyone it was finally over... and then it started again.  Frustration!!

About this time, I became aware that Joseph was also in the bedroom with me.  He was mumbling something about the doorbell.  I told him to go back to bed and groggily rolled over.   But, no, he was back.  Something about the doorbell again.  I listened, still mostly asleep, and told him it was probably the back doorbell, which has a short circuit and was probably going haywire.  Then I wondered if maybe Lil'Nathan had gone out to check the garden and forgotten to unlock the door.  He should know better.  No, Joseph insisted Lil'Nathan was still asleep.  I dozed again.  I woke up only when Joseph told me he was going down to see who was at the door.  "I won't let them in, I just want to see."  Right.

I crawled out of bed, telling Joseph to wait, and as I did, I woke up fully.  Lil'Nathan was still in his bed.  That really was a door bell and NOT the back door bell.  And whoever was ringing it was clearly getting irritated. Very intersting.

I came down, saw through the front door's upper window that the screen was propped open, heard the rain steadily falling and ventured a peep out the peephole.

Where I saw a very handsome guy, wearing a shirt and tie, holding a very heavy bag, leaning against the door and looking very tired and very, very wet.

Nathan had forgotten his keys and wallet (bus fare and subway pass) and realized it the minute he'd shut the door--30 mins ago. 

We pieced the two stories together tonight at dinner.  (Mary laughed herself almost right off her chair during my part.)  I figure the part where "Stacy found the bell" was when he stopped ringing the doorbell and tried throwing rocks at the bedroom window.  (Didn't hear a thing--window fans are great for white noise!)  So he went back to the doorbell, "with persistence."