Last night Lydia asked me to help her wrap a present she’d gotten for her best friend. As I deftly cut and folded and tucked and taped, she marveled, “You’re, like, the queen of wrapping paper.”

Though preening inwardly and preparing to have my ego stroked a bit, I kept my eyes demurely on the package as I asked, “Oh, really? Why’s that?”

“Because you have a cupboard full of wrapping paper and you keep buying more!” she exclaimed.

Huh. Not quite what I was expecting.

Something in my expression must have given me away, because she did throw me a bone, at least. “And you’re pretty good at wrapping, too.”