Welcome to the Maw Podcast. I'm your host for this week, John Good. Welcome to 2021, everyone.

Started from the bottom now we're here. It goes without saying it's a relief. 2020 is in the

rear view. But after the world win that it was this past year, starting a new one still

kind of feels like staring into the unknown. So for this New Year's Day episode, our two stories

are about navigating uncharted territory. For our first storyteller, facing the unknown doesn't

mean going where no one has ever gone before. It means having the courage to go back to places

that aren't easy to visit. Alex Born told this story in a story slam in Seattle where the theme

of the night was flawed. Here's Alex, live at the Maw.

It's 3 a.m. and I've been lying in my bed awake for hours because there's a man in my bed

and he's not supposed to be there. Well, he was supposed to be there when the sex was happening.

But now the sex is not happening and he's asleep and I'm awake. He knows the rule, no sleepovers.

I told him he can't stay over because I'm a bad co-sleeper. And now I'm lying awake, going

through all my memories of times where I couldn't sleep because there was someone in my bed.

It started when I was a little girl. I would go to bed at night, cradling my doll,

holding her really close and closing my eyes and thinking, I want to look adorable like the

little girls in the TV commercials. But then I would start to feel smothered. So I would put her

right beside me on the pillow with her head right there and I would close my eyes and think,

that's still cute, right? And then, but she was like touching me. So I would put her beside me

on the bed and then I would shove her off the bed and she would hit the floor with a thud and I

would fall instantly asleep. So now I'm lying beside this guy, wide awake, going through these

memories. I told him I was a bad co-sleeper and that is the truth but it's not the whole truth.

The whole truth is I've only been out of my marriage for a year and I don't want a man to wake

...