As we drove to church this morning, my wife noticed the light bulb in the center console. She asked what any curious wife would, “Where did that come from?”

Before I tell you how I answered, let me detail what I did the previous morning. I received a text from my son, “I know I should have contacted you Friday, but can you help me clear out my apartment today?” Since it was the proper dad thing to do and I already had my shorts on, I thought, why not? My wife said taking the smaller car was best because most of everything had already been cleaned out of his place. I left within an hour of the text to head to his old apartment.

Because the apartment had black mold, my son hadn’t been living there for a few weeks. The apartment complex “graciously” let him out of his lease early since they had no other open apartments to move him into. [They collected a couple extra months of rent while they weighed their options, and he continued to dutifully pay his rent.) This weekend was THE weekend he had to get a truck from his work to clean out the remaining big items and take them to a storage unit. Among the items, I helped him load were a comfy chair, a dining table and chairs, and a bed. We also donated a dresser and a futon to the dumpster. The dumpster also received additional knickknacks of diminishing functionality and worth. It was one of those items from a lamp recently demoted to “trash” that occupied my console.

As I mulled over my wife’s question, my immediate reply was, “I got it yesterday when I helped [our son’s name] move.” I quickly followed up with, “Dear, I keep it as a reminder of how you light up my life.” Obviously, both answers were true. 🙂

Since my wife was still drinking her coffee, her brain was not fully engaged. The number of points I lost because I led with an honest rather than flattering answer was minimal.