Get Thee to a Nunnery!

I will never understand men! I often blog about the relationship issues that confront women who are trying desperately to have a relationship with a man. "Women that are hard to understand" is a popular topic on talk shows. I hear men complain of contradictions in women's behavior. Well, my sisters, I can tell you men are no better. I recently had the opportunity to experience this first hand. A friend of mine, who I was seeing/dating, whatever you want to call it, got very angry with me for asking him why he hadn't called me when he said he would. Now, I'm the first person who will tell you that there is more to the story than just what is written here. There are details, miscommunications, etc left out of the story for brevity's sake. I also left them out because I feel that the real issue isn't what was said as much as it is misperception. The whole situation has left me somewhat dumbfounded. My comments were innocent enough. No hidden meaning was ever intended. While talking to a girlfriend she said something that I thought was excellent for summing up the whole thing. She said, "Why do men think that some things a woman asks are controlling when really, she sees it as a sign of his respect for her?" When I asked why he didn't call, he thought I was trying to make him account for his actions/whereabouts. I wasn't. I only wondered why he didn't feel that keeping his word to me was important. I couldn't have cared less about what he was doing or where he was doing it. Perhaps if there was more talking instead of jumping to conclusions then the whole thing would have been avoided.

As I stated in the beginning, it's all about perception...perceptions between men and women, perceptions of society and it's gender roles, perception of what's expected in relationships. It's true that most of us can never measure up to the romantic, idealized perception of the perfect mate. Reality bites and it leaves us continually longing for the unattainable. That's why I'm going into the Convent. Sister Celtic Lass will be my new name. Nothing to do but pray and work for the betterment of mankind. There's that vow of chastity thing, but that shouldn't be a problem, actually it would be a nice rest. The vow of poverty won't really change a lot for me. With three kids, I don't have much money to spend anyway. So....it's been nice but....time to pack.