The 5am lobby used to be my favorite hour. Now it just sits there.

There was a reverent stillness to that hour, before the first guest wanders down with jet lag and a complaint about a humming minibar. Lately I catch myself lingering in it a beat too long, and the quiet starts to weigh like a refusal I never actually spoke out loud. Idk, maybe that's just what semi-retirement smells like — old shoes and unsent replies.