wife playing a fife

So sometimes my husband likes to sing songs to his wife. The songs usually begin with saying that his wife is his life. And then he's pretty much left with rife, strife, and knife. So his wife is often rife with strife or carries a knife and fills his life with strife. He tries to make up words to make the song a little more positive, but really, there aren't a whole lot of wife rhyming words.

So this morning, he began singing the wife song, and paused, looking for a word: "Fife!"

I told him it wasn't a word. And after all, I am the English major. He said, "No! He carries a fife and drum!" I told him I didn't know who "he" was, but I was still positive that "fife" was most definitely not a word, and that perhaps "he" was carrying a pipe and a drum.

Turns out, this wife was wrong:

fife - a high-pitched transverse flute used commonly in military and marching musical groups

Looks like I'll be playing a fife for all my life (filled with strife, of course).