The excellent reason I lied to my husband
I lied to my husband this week.
Which sounds awful and horrible.
Judge me, if you must.
But first consider this:
It was all for a good cause.
And,
And,
He told me to.
How we got to the lie
It was one of those mid-January snowy gray weekends. Both daughters are gone.
Just Husband, Pup, and I at home doing the kind of chores and tasks no one wants to do.
I was cleaning out bathroom drawers.
Husband was paying taxes.
I know.
You’re so jealous of our glamorous lives at this moment.
It’s no simple thing doing our taxes.
We both run our own businesses.
There’s that.
And Husband can’t just pay a bill.
He has to figure out how to make multiple miles in the process.
This explains why he was heads down, mumbling, calculating, grunting for hours.
When he was done, he threw his arms up and did a victory lap around the house.
“Do you want to see what I’ve done?” he asked with that look he was hoping I would say, “Absolutely!”
Between you and me
This is where the story could come to a complete standstill.
Because between you and me,
In this space where we only tell the truth,
I really didn’t want to see what he’d done.
I knew it would be brilliant and other level smart,
I also knew it would make my eyes glaze over.
Which is the exact moment where Husband saved our marriage.
It’s okay if you lie.
Husband saving our marriage
The shocking thing Husband told me to do
“It’s okay if you lie,” he said.
Which was his way of saying, “I know you don’t want to know, but I really want you to know so pretend for five minutes.”
I followed his cue.
I lied.
“Sure. I’d love to hear,” I said.
Like a game show hostess, he swept his arm to direct my eyes at the 10 assorted credit cards spread out across our dining room table.
I think this was supposed to make it easier for me to follow the trail of minimum spends, sign up bonuses and multipliers.
I put on my best “I’m interested face,” in the name of a good marriage.
He worked so hard and was so proud.
Most of it sounded like Charlie Brown’s teacher. “WaaWaaWaa.”
Until the end.
“Wait, what?”
“And that’s how we just earned 683,644 miles paying our taxes.”
“Wait, what?” I was sure I’d heard that number wrong.
“683,644 points. Enough to fly our family of four around the world in business class.”
Now he had my attention.
That’s no lie.
Which has me wondering: Is lying always a bad thing?
Maybe not when it’s a temporary thing.
Husband knew this.
He didn’t have me at “tax payments” but knew he’d get me by the time he got to “trip around the world.”
Which is why, Dear Reader, I’m giving you permission to tell the person you love what they want to hear.
It just could lead you to something you’ll be delighted to hear.
Still judging me?
Let me know.
If it’s something I don’t want to hear, it’s fine to lie.
While you’re here…
If you like this story, you might enjoy my book,
