When my husband said he’d run to the supermarket that afternoon, I barely gave it a second thought. We just needed the usual—milk, vegetables, a few things for dinner. But right as he was about to step out the door, I remembered something. “Oh! Can you grab a pack of sanitary pads for me too?” I asked casually, expecting the usual reaction.

Normally, asking him for something like that would kick off a mini adventure.

There would be blurry photos of shelves, questions like “Do you want the wings or no wings?”—and sometimes even a slightly desperate phone call from the aisle, asking me to make a choice I thought I had made clear a hundred times. It had almost become a little tradition between us.

But that day… nothing. My phone stayed completely silent. No calls, no texts. I started to wonder if he’d even remembered.

When he finally came home, he set the grocery bags on the counter, and my eyes immediately went to the bread, the apples… and there, perfectly tucked between them, was the exact brand and type of pads I always use. I blinked in surprise. “Wait… how did you know these were the right ones?” I asked, laughing.