Filling the (Kitchen) Cabinet

A husband and wife formalize their division of labour

- Emily Goodman

MY HUSBAND IS the secretary of defence—not of our country, but of our household.

His name is Aaron Simone, and he has always been protective, my safety monitor, as I used to call him. But I promoted him to SecDef after a shameful incident in which I called him late one night while he was away on a fishing trip. I knew he was waking up early the next day to rendezvous with the fish, but I was desperate to talk to him: I was convinced there was an intruder lurking in our apartment because I kept hearing strange noises outside our bedroom door. The real culprit was the ice maker in our refrigerator, something Aaron guessed a minute into our phone call. But he stayed on the line with me for hours, calming me down and advising me on how to barricade the bedroom door.