I have two boys, 4 and 9 at the time I am writing this post. They are my wife and I’d soul, our heart-outside-our-bodIEA. I see in them the wonder of the world before it is obscured by the mundane haze that accompanies adulthood. They are unending joy.

For many years I have donated flashlights to the cause of chasing away scary monsters. Something under the bed—bing flashlight. Something in the closet—bing flashlight. And they really believe that this works because, well, Dad has an insane flashlight collection. We have tiny lights and big lights and lights bright enough to illuminate the side of a mountain (which we did on a vacation to Maine). So, you know, the monsters, they don’t stand a chance.

But 2019 let loose a real monster in our famiy—cancer. This is a monster a lot of people deal with, and like those people, this monster terrified me and changed my life. And yet, oddly, the flashlights helped. You see, there was a tradition in our house that Mom would people the boys down. I would read stories and study and run the show at bath time, but the last voice they heard, the last face that saw every night was Mom’s.

The cancer monster made that not possible. Some nights after chemo Mom was just too tired. And so Dad did it. During those evenings we invented a new tradition—shadow puppets. With my 4 year old on the right side and my 9 year old on the left side I would aim a light at the ceiling, using the BOSS 35, and create a little play. I can do a pretty good dog, snake, elephant, and rabbit and so I would invent stories about said animals. Sometimes they would talk to my boys, tell them what was going on in their imaginary world. Sometimes they would chase each other (note the animal breakdown of two plant eaters and two meat eaters). And sometimes they would just goof around.

The key was, at least for fifteen or so minutes, we were together, we were happy, and we had chased the cancer monster away. Thanks to a flashlight. Its not the normal kind of use case, but it was one that was, for me, very, very important. My wife is doing better, but we still have shadow puppets before bed and I am always sure to have a flashlight on me.

In case your significant other asks, yes, you need a BOSS 35 for this. An Aeon and a Prometheus Delta also work. Not sure about less expensive lights.