I recently read an article about a celebrity chef. In it, he talked about his nightly ritual with his wife: “At around 11:30 or 12:00, we talk. Not just, ‘How are you?’ I like to have a soulful conversation with her, a meaningful conversation. And then after that, I fall asleep within two seconds. I am just beat. I am beat.”

I couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

Are you freaking kidding me? A soulful conversation? At midnight?! In which you are so “alert” that you fall asleep within two seconds of having it?

Granted, I am not in the room with them, but I’d love to ask the wife just how meaningful these late-night conversations are for her.

Look, everyone says they have their priorities in order. “Family first!” is the familiar cry. But Adultitis is eternally tempting us to let our focus slide to other things. Our pride and ambitions can drive us to chase wealth, status, and adulation, often at the expense of the people we care about the most, while we expertly rationalize that we are doing this for their benefit.

Meanwhile, we convince ourselves that the leftover scraps of time and attention we have to offer them suffice for something meaningful.

And we stay just busy enough so that we never have the time to wonder if we’re really just kidding ourselves.