I think my favorite sound in the world must be "beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, errrssw." Probably because it's a sound that is always followed by another sound that is high on my list of favorites: the noise
of our back door being pushed open. It feels silly, sometimes – that five beeps and a scraping noise can bring me that much unbridled elation. It's almost as though the sound momentarily morphs me into someone's pet dog. My tail wagging, small barks escaping my amused smile, and tongue hopefully not hanging too far out of my mouth. But look, they're home! Someone is home!I do quick calculations to figure out which one it could be. There's never a bad answer here, obviously. I map out which roommate is in the living room, which one went to pilates that could have only started maybe 25 minutes ago, which roommate was supposed to be gone for a few hours at work, noting that it must not be any of them. But another one was only going to the grocery store so they could probably be back by now. And then the last one, I don't remember or don't know where she was, so really it could be her too. Or maybe she's upstairs already and I just haven't seen her. Anyways, it doesn't matter, because I'm already on my feet and scurrying toward the kitchen and announcing myself with just my own name. I'm not sure why I do this and I don't do it every time, but I've done it enough times that I've noticed it coming out of my mouth. "Maddie." I confuse myself when I say it but that feeling also subsides quickly because yay! She is home!
Sometimes we hug, sometimes we even jump up and down. Because we are seeing each other! Sometimes we just talk in a slight baby voice to each other (not always) asking where were you, what have you been doing, how is your day going? The answer to which can be followed by a number of things: contented or discontented sighs, gentle mid-back rubs, laughter, wide eyes, understanding nods, hums of agreement,
It's beautiful. We're really lucky.
Once it crossed my mind that I hope I never live in another place that has a keypad lock. I'm not sure my heart could take it. With each beep, piece after beep would chip off until there was nothing left.
Until then, for now, it's my favorite sound. The sound of friendship, of comfort, of joy, of solidarity, of homecoming.