In the quiet of Midnights, as unmistakable as Times Square after the ball drops and the confetti settles, we learn to dream again.

A Seasons of Love Finale

This is the third and final beat in my Seasons of Love trilogy–

Fearless taught us to leap.

Big Red Bow Birthday wrapped us in a blanket of love.

Midnight Dreams is the lullaby to sing us to sleep and remind us to dream again.

Counting Time at Midnight

We were walking Holly when Alex asked, “Did you know we’ve been married half my life?”

“Oh, wow,” I said, half-listening–his love for numbers usually lulls me to sleep.

“And you’ve known me half your life.”

That stopped me cold.

“Wait–was that what kept you up last night?”

Instead of counting sheep; he was counting time.

Midnight Dreams Lullaby

Our Midnights aren’t the wildly romantic Life of a Showgirl — which, with perfect timing, debuts on Alex’s October 3 birthday.

Mostly we sleep, or toss and turn. We wake up and hug before Alex gets his coffee, go to sleep holding hands, and he nods off first. The crickets keep time — even if I can’t always hear them the way I used to. Ordinary and unglamorous.

Life’s Math, Life’s Markers

This year stacked the numbers like nesting dolls:

• Our 27th wedding anniversary — a milesone that marks half of Alex’s life.
• My 56th birthday — half of my life spent knowing Alex.
• Alex’s October 3 birthday — he still hasn’t caught up with his own 55-mph photo.

The markers come fast, like mile signs on a highway. You celebrate one and another slips into view. Time simply refuses to stand still for a photo.

Dancing Forward

The fun is still in the details of the girls’ lives, and slowly, it’s returning to the details of ours. We’ve decided on Argentinian tango lessons — apparently the wedding dip wasn’t just a move, it was a promise to dance again.

Alex gave me an IOU for glamping next year, when the girls are off at school and doing their life — maybe around Parents’ Weekend or the birthdays. We’re already wondering how we’ll make those trips with our aging dog.

Next week is Holly’s birthday, and Alexandra’s too, so yes, there’s a dog-and-music story still waiting to be told.

Seasons of Love, Mama Edition

For years I followed the girls’ love affair with Taylor Swift, cheering through every Fearless, Red, and Midnights era until, like all crushes, it faded.

They still love Taylor, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not the same. Motherhood is like that, sometimes the rhythm fades, but we can always pick up the beat where we left off. Call it the unglitzy side of the Taylor tour–less showgirl, more heartbeat, but the music never stops.

Alex always reminds me: The girls will always need you.

I forget sometimes. I worry I’m defined by their choices, as if their playlists and milestones are the measure of my own.

But they’re getting older, and our family is reshaping (Kind of the way my stomach, ahem).

If there are no more Taylor Swift concerts in my future, the ABBA Museum is calling one day — a new milestone, another dance floor more laughter and love. Because love doesn’t end when the tour does; it keeps remixing itself, inviting us to play, sing and dance to new songs blended in with the old favorites.

What It All Means

So what do we do at Midnights? We keep showing up. Enduring love isn’t flash like a showgirl, it’s middle age.

It’s the good-night (moon) hand squeeze and the good-morning hug.

It’s the math that never matches the missing sock, and the miracle that doesn’t need a mate.

This final chapter in a Taylor and Travis, Stephanie and Alex love story proves that enduring love isn’t a headline — it’s the heartbeat of everyday life.

If you’re wondering about your own happily-ever-after — if it hasn’t arrived in the shape of Taylor and Travis or Stephanie and Alex, please hear this: you are surrounded by love. In friends. In family. In faith. In the quiet courage you give yourself, It may snore at midnight or sing off-key in the car; it may not come from one person, but when it does, hold them close. Either way, it’s a love story worth keeping time to.

Sweet Dreams & New Beginnings

October 3 will bring Alex’s birthday — and with perfect symmetry, the debut of Taylor Swift’s Life of a Showgirl. I smile at the irony: Taylor steps into something new while I’m still lingering in the Eras Tour, treasuring every mile marker with the girls.

But the sweet truth is that the fun is in the dreaming. The next memories are waiting to be made.

Because even as nothing stays the same, love keeps inviting us to dream again.