Seeming Trust

The panicked scream of my wife interrupted my evening quiet time with ESPN. I sprinted into the kitchen to find Lindsay backed into the far side of the kitchen fearing the wrath of her dreaded opponent on the floor. A two-inch bright green reptile stood in equal shock from the screaming sixty-five inch blond on the other side of the room. My wife’s fear had frozen both of the parties. I assured Lindsay that I would fix this problem, and told Lindsay to leave the room with the dogs so they wouldn’t consume more than their allotted caloric intake. She eventually agreed, but not before handing me her choice of weapon, a dirty frying pan. Once alone in the kitchen I stalked my victim. I then attacked my prey with a shoe, but to no avail. I then approached my wife with a lie, claiming victory over her nemesis. She asked again to make sure I was being truthful, and I repeated the lie knowing it was what she wanted to hear.
The next day another one was on the porch, and elicited the same response from both my wife and then myself. But this time I succeeded. She then nonchalantly asked me if I lied the day before, and I admitted. Later that night she thanked me for lying about killing the reptile, because she knew she wouldn’t have been able to sleep if she had thought her two inch Geico salesman roamed her home.

Shakespeare’s 138 sonnet.
“…O, Love’s best habit is in seeming trust,
And age in love loves not to have years told.
Therefore I lie with her and she with me,
And in our faults by lies we flattered be.”

The man in this poem has a woman who professes that he is young, even though he’s old. He knows that she knows he isn’t as young as he professes to be, but that is the “seeming trust.” He lies about his age. She lies about believing him. They both know their deception, which really isn’t deception if both know, right? As Shakespear says love’s best habit is this seeming trust. Lindsay knows that I don’t kill every reptile and I know that she really doesn’t think that I could still make the U.S. Olympic wrestling team or I am the best preacher in the world, but we both sure say it. I doubt that is really lying, because a lie is an attempt to deceive. “Seeming Trust” communicates love not deceit.