Dazed and Amused

I’ve not yet seen that movie “He’s Just Not That Into You.” Maybe I’m scared of what I might find. Maybe I’m jealous that I didn’t write it. At this point in my life, I feel like I’ve gained a decent amount of insight on relationships. Some days I feel like I’ve got it all figured out and that all my experience has made me more discriminating and enlightened. Other days I feel like I know too much and that ignorance truly is bliss. Today I am the latter. In my experience the more you know, the more jaded and suspicious you become. It’s no wonder people get married so young, before they truly understand the implication of knowing themselves enough to laboriously choose a mate with whom they are truly suited.

So there’s this boy. He’s a silly boy and he makes me a little crazy. Conversely, he thinks I’m a bit of a lunatic… most likely he thinks I’m downright batshit crazy. Well in most cases, we’re both right. And the secret is, I’m not sure that either of us would have it any other way.

I think, when it comes to relationships, we all exist in a constant state of flux between appreciation and utter confusion. Women are complex. Men, hardheaded. We ladies sit around in droves discussing our respective beaus’ latest text or remark, attempting to decipher his true meaning. Men, with their locker room machismo, banter tales of their old lady’s nagging and enigmatic inability to be satisfied. Chicks grinningly roll their eyes at the juvenile antics of their boys, while the guys shake their heads amusedly at their girls’ unmistakable insanity. Each sex adores the other for the very thing that drives them mad. My friend Casey puts it the best, and it cracks me up every time she yells at her man: “WHY CAN’T JUST YOU ACT RIGHT??”

But isn’t it the baffling behavior that keeps us enthralled? Just when I think I know everything there is to know about dudes in their natural habitat, one comes along and smacks me in the back of the head (not literally… that would be just awful). I live for these moments of bewilderment; because who wants to date a jaded, cynical know-it-all? I will never fully figure out what men want, just as the men will constantly be trying to figure out what makes us tick (hello… shiny things and hugs).

I say thank goodness! Thanks goodness we can’t figure one another out… because just like everything else in life, when you stop learning you stop growing. It’s really laughable that men and women have been getting together for thousands of years, yet we still have no idea how to navigate the intricate wiring of our mates’ inner workings. At this point all we can do is shake our heads, laugh, and appreciate each other for the anomalies that we are.