Every woman needs good men in her life. Some of us are fortunate to have good, great, the bestest men in our lives. I am one of them. Although I do not have a husband (yet J), I am blessed to be related to or be a friend with a number of steady, salt-of-the-earth men. If you’re one of the stellar guys in my life, and you’re reading this, thank you. (If you’re a noble single man and you’re reading this, you may want to contact my dating coordinator. Just contact her at ScreenaDate.com. But, don’t blame me if this website doesn’t work, I need a tech savvy guy to set it up. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.)
Let me count the ways that men enrich women’s lives and keep us calm so we can steady on.
• You laser-focus on problems. Me? When the lawn sprinklers leak or won’t turn on at all, I fret about my grass instantly drying up to that pitiful crunchy yellow. You? You pull out the tools and that purple pipe glue and go to work.
• You jump at the chance to try out new gadgets. Me? Puh-lease. Don’t make me try to set up another electronic thingy. I have no interest in which yellow, red, blue, and green wire goes to what (actual photo from my sprinkler manifold). I’ll just be sure to turn off the breaker for you first.
• You remember the scores, the plays, the athletes’ home towns from decades ago. Me? I remember the day I sat on a blanket over frozen ice on a stadium seat and it took an hour-long hot bath to unthaw my tailbone.
• You speak a few reassuring words. Me? I can blab on about the situation, the obstacle, the conversations with every person that crossed my path that day. And you nod and chuckle and get back to the purple pipe glue.
Millions of Good Men
So here’s to the millions of good men on our planet and the incredible ones we know personally. And I give a special salute to my dad who raised the bar on how I view and value good men. Dad graduated to heaven thirteen years ago today, but his legacy of steadiness and putting up with my fumbling with electronics and sports statistics make me forever grateful that God wired us all with divine worth and unique skills. Me? I’ll stick to writing about the good men who enrich my life and keep me away from the yellow, red, blue, and green wires.
My dear word artist…what a lovely and pertinent essay on the male component…how you bless us all! Those eligible men better get their ducks in a row, cuz this friend is gonna check them out REAL well…nothing but the best for my Bethie Joy!
Oh, Kristi, thank you for the kind kudos. I love that you’ll be reviewing Mr. Right for me. Definitely put “understands wiring” on the list for me.
Oh, Bethie-what-a-Joy…I can say it no better than your friend did, so I’ll just add a hearty “AMEN!” to what Kristi wrote. Oh for a handyman the day after my self-constructed bookcase–which shared a wall with my bedroom–shifted in the night, sending shelves of heavy books crashing to the floor, and thus a Jane-shaped hole in the ceiling over my bed! (Being an unhandywoman just isn’t pretty!)
Oh, Janie, thank you for adding such joy to my life. I can just see that dilapidated bookcase and the ceiling hole! I know you can relate to many of the foibles of being an “unhandywoman.” Granted, some guys are not handy with electronics and repairs (like the wiring in this photo was actually done by a man!) and many women excel as handywomen. But, regardless of skill level, men and women bring different strengths to the table, er, bookcase, er, sprinkler system. 🙂
Thanks for posting this, Beth. I get so tired of the media portraying men as buffoons. Most aren’t! We need them and appreciate them.
I agree, Nancy. We do need and need to appreciate men and vice versa.