Older and wiser

I don’t remember where this lamp came from. It might have been my parents’ or Maria may have brought it to the marriage.

Either way, it was old enough that the original shade had deteriorated and finally fell apart last weekend.

It also needed a new switch/bulb assembly, as did one of my parents’ lamps that had gone from flickering to emitting an odor suggestive of an impending fire.

I went to ACE Hardware early last week, bought the requisite parts and repaired both lamps.

Then I made a fatal mistake.

I went to Target and bought a replacement shade.

When I called Maria to report the purchase, the news was met with a stony silence.

Later that day, when she got home and saw the $18.89 shade, she informed me that men are not allowed to make lampshade purchase decisions. That is the exclusive domain of the wife.

She was so emphatic about it that I am still marveling at how I managed to live almost 70 years and never learn this basic truth of domestic life.

So I dutifully returned the lampshade to Target where the woman at the service counter nodded knowingly when I explained why I bought it back.

The right shade, it turns out, was waiting for Maria at T.J. Maxx in the housewares department, priced at $9.99. We brought it home and she installed it and I photographed it.