This. This is my favorite part of the day. The part where the 24-hour sign is still buzzing outside, but my shift is done. Where I’ve already scrubbed the smell of cheap coffee and stale cigarettes off my skin. Where I’m sitting on this crappy couch in the dark, staring at a blank TV screen, and the only sound is his little snores coming from the baby monitor. It’s the ten minutes where I’m not a cashier, I’m not a provider, I’m not even a mom. I’m just… a person. Tired. Quiet. And weirdly, for these few minutes, okay. Then the alarm goes off at 5 AM and we do it all again. But for now? This silence is mine. And it’s enough.