There were leaves dancing through the air as they blew from the trees with the wind - a dance mimicking and celebrating life, despite their eminent death, and decay when they find rest peacefully on the soil below. Rays of sunlight filtered through the branches outside the window as I wondered how lonely it must be to be barren branches after growing their leaves, only to be stripped away when the frosty fingers of winter begin to grasp the land.

I closed my eyes for only a moment, and my head began to droop. Quickly, I snapped back into somewhat-attentiveness as my professor droned on and on about the upcoming due dates, preparing for the final, and being responsible for our own work. Truthfully, there was only one thing on my mind - and no matter how hard I tried to fight it, I couldn't seem to shake it.

While time appears to slow, sometimes almost to a halt, when confined to the walls of a classroom with windows to the outside world constantly changing, growing, decaying, beckoning me to come play - eventually, the class was over, and I found myself embarking across campus to my little silver car.

I drove down the highway with the window down and the music up, despite the early December air biting at my cheeks, and I thought about what was next for me. Graduation is only three semesters away, which can seem like a lot of time to get things figured out, but as they say - time flies. What am I going to do with the rest of my life? What if I can't find or land a job I actually enjoy? I felt questions like these weighing down on my shoulders as my little silver car rolled on past the colorful leaves dancing through the air, twirling to their demise.

The warm scent of familiarity greeted me when I got home. Glancing at the clock in the kitchen as I found my way to my bedroom, I became aware that I didn't have much time before I had to start getting ready for work. In my head, I began calculating all the things I wanted to get done before heading into work for the rest of the afternoon, and attempting to allocate a certain amount of time to each task when suddenly, I opened the bedroom door and saw you standing there, waiting for me.

All of my stress and strangled thoughts that I had picked up and carried with me home from school suddenly melted away, and I felt a wave of relief come over me as I saw what I had been missing ever since I left this morning - my beautiful, pillow-laden bed.

I sat down and felt myself melt into my bed. I laid back and closed my eyes for a moment and let the pillows engulf me. It was like a giant hug, or freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, or a day at the beach - pure bliss doesn't completely encompass the feeling, but it's a start. Suddenly, I sat up again, and became fully aware of my surroundings. This wasn't the right time...as much as we both wanted it, a nap would have to wait until I got home from work. I reasoned with myself, trying to justify the disappointment I felt toward the postponement... "It's better this way anyhow, when I get home again later, I can sleep all night." However, nothing that I could say lessened the onset of emotions I felt leaving my bed yet again when all I really wanted was to sleep.

I threw one last wistful glance over my shoulder at my bed as I started up to work on my tasks when I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket - a text, from my boss: "Come in at 4 instead of 3."

A wave of relief showered over me, as I set an alarm and jumped back into my bed - the nap that could finally be.