It is common knowledge that otters sleep on their backs on the surface of the water, holding one another’s hands so they don’t drift off and get lost or worse.

It is also known that bees snuggle together when they sleep, often intertwining their legs, curled into the soft bellies of flowers, maybe to protect one another.

I do not sleep holding another’s hand, or intertwining myself around any person intertwining themselves around me. I do not sleep swaddled in anything, and much prefer an open space in front of me as I drift off.

I suppose on some carnal level I am a predator’s dream, on the outside of the outside of the outside, completely untethered.

But, that doesn’tbother me nearly as much as knowing I hope someday to be as good a person as an otter or a bee.