~Shakespeare~
Life #1- The Flower Pickin' Gentleman..............this is the life everyone knows, and the story everyone has heard before. Boy kayaker meets girl, boy kayaker falls in love with girl, boy kayker and girl run away together and live happily ever after, girl tells boy kayaker "we about to have a baby!!!!", boy kayaker does the right thing, girl takes advantage and uses the kids to try and own boy kayaker for the rest of his life...................wait, back up. We are only to the "boy kayaker and girl run away together and live happily ever after" part. This is the part of the story where Marcelle is home for half the week and I am the splendid angel that every woman dreams of having the ability to mold. During that time we lived a quaint little life deep in the hills of WNC. The garden, the cabin, the normal job working for the betterment of mankind, the long country walks, all of it fit this life perfectly.........and that was just the thing, it was perfect. It had to be perfect. Marcelle would not have it any other way. Everything we did, everything we were was just that..............perfect.
I loved this life. Who wouldn't? Marcelle was a wonderful person, loved to cook and was an excellent chef, and we lived in a beautiful environment that only strengthened the feelings we had for one another because we were experiencing it together. It was a life that made me want to be a better man. Marcelle made me want to be a better man. Living with a woman like Marcelle taught me that women have beauty, caring, and above all else compassion inside their hearts that a man can never possess. We are simply a contradistinct species, and the qualities we possess are far more eccentric to modern society. This is technically not Marcelle's, or any other woman's fault. It just is. The real problem arises because our society continues to become softer and softer, and in doing so the natural instincts that we have as men become more and more useless, turning us all into flower pickin' gentleman. It is quickly becoming a woman's world, and fella's, we are sitting on the sidelines waiting to be told what to do next. This is why we kayak. This is why we run for the hills........to be men. To utilize the instincts we naturally possess as men and simplify the world around us. (which is why I still question the presence of women in kayaking, but that is a whole different topic......yea, I said it. Deal with it!)
There is nothing wrong with expecting perfection out of your partner................at times. However, many women (and by no means am I saying ALL women..........calm yourselves ladies) have a tendency to never be satisfied with what they have or have already changed, and in doing so always want more............c'mon ladies, you all know the kind of woman I am referring to. They look at the man they have chosen for life and say, "he is not bad, but what can I change about him to make him.............perfect." (and on a side note, if you are a woman reading this post and don't know any women like that, it is most likely because YOU are the woman I am referring to) Give that mentality enough fuel and time, and before long the man finds himself in his back shed, otherwise known as his "man cave", with no heat or electricity, surrounded by his trusty kayaks, sitting on his beloved ripped apart old couch, sneaking a late night safety meeting and wondering when the hell his testicles fell off. (damn, I love a good run on......especially one that ends with the word 'testicles')
“There are two questions a man must ask himself: The first is 'Where am I going?' and the second is 'Who will go with me?'
If you ever get these questions in the wrong order you are in trouble.”
~Sam Keen, Fire in the Belly~
When I first read this quote it really freaked me out.
I wish the man writing this post had been there to teach me this lesson when I was living the "American Dream" all those years ago. I wouldn't have taken the lesson and concluded that Marcelle wasn't the right girl for me. Instead, I would have realized that we are all creatures of habit, even Marcelle, and what I was doing was developing a very bad habit in her and in myself............I was making her think she would always get everything she wanted with me. I should have realized that I needed to stand my ground as a man and develop a more balanced approach to our relationship. I spent half the week doing exactly as she pleased and creating a persona that wasn't necessarily the real me. I did this because it was easier than fighting her. Marcelle could fight......well. She always kicked my ass in an argument, as well as beat my ass a few times........seriously, she did. (on a side note ladies, never hit a good man, or any man. It is one of the worst positions you could ever put a man in. He won't hit back, can't defend himself, and knows that one wrong move on his part will lead to a life altering event.........but yet the woman just keeps on hitting. It is just wrong) But I took the easy way out. I just said "yes dear", knowing that within a few days Marcelle would hit the trail, and that other side of me would crawl out from the depths of my own natural instincts. I would return to Life #2 - The Epic Worthlessness that is Man......................I'm going to have some fun with that one. Stay tuned
“When a man cannot chose, he ceases to be a man.”
~Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange~
See ya on the rivah....................with blue lips, icicles in my beard, and a thin line between determined and just plain crazy . PEACE
To find out just how worthless man can be, click here...........The Epic Worthlessness That is Man
I loved this life. Who wouldn't? Marcelle was a wonderful person, loved to cook and was an excellent chef, and we lived in a beautiful environment that only strengthened the feelings we had for one another because we were experiencing it together. It was a life that made me want to be a better man. Marcelle made me want to be a better man. Living with a woman like Marcelle taught me that women have beauty, caring, and above all else compassion inside their hearts that a man can never possess. We are simply a contradistinct species, and the qualities we possess are far more eccentric to modern society. This is technically not Marcelle's, or any other woman's fault. It just is. The real problem arises because our society continues to become softer and softer, and in doing so the natural instincts that we have as men become more and more useless, turning us all into flower pickin' gentleman. It is quickly becoming a woman's world, and fella's, we are sitting on the sidelines waiting to be told what to do next. This is why we kayak. This is why we run for the hills........to be men. To utilize the instincts we naturally possess as men and simplify the world around us. (which is why I still question the presence of women in kayaking, but that is a whole different topic......yea, I said it. Deal with it!)
There is nothing wrong with expecting perfection out of your partner................at times. However, many women (and by no means am I saying ALL women..........calm yourselves ladies) have a tendency to never be satisfied with what they have or have already changed, and in doing so always want more............c'mon ladies, you all know the kind of woman I am referring to. They look at the man they have chosen for life and say, "he is not bad, but what can I change about him to make him.............perfect." (and on a side note, if you are a woman reading this post and don't know any women like that, it is most likely because YOU are the woman I am referring to) Give that mentality enough fuel and time, and before long the man finds himself in his back shed, otherwise known as his "man cave", with no heat or electricity, surrounded by his trusty kayaks, sitting on his beloved ripped apart old couch, sneaking a late night safety meeting and wondering when the hell his testicles fell off. (damn, I love a good run on......especially one that ends with the word 'testicles')
“There are two questions a man must ask himself: The first is 'Where am I going?' and the second is 'Who will go with me?'
If you ever get these questions in the wrong order you are in trouble.”
~Sam Keen, Fire in the Belly~
When I first read this quote it really freaked me out.
I wish the man writing this post had been there to teach me this lesson when I was living the "American Dream" all those years ago. I wouldn't have taken the lesson and concluded that Marcelle wasn't the right girl for me. Instead, I would have realized that we are all creatures of habit, even Marcelle, and what I was doing was developing a very bad habit in her and in myself............I was making her think she would always get everything she wanted with me. I should have realized that I needed to stand my ground as a man and develop a more balanced approach to our relationship. I spent half the week doing exactly as she pleased and creating a persona that wasn't necessarily the real me. I did this because it was easier than fighting her. Marcelle could fight......well. She always kicked my ass in an argument, as well as beat my ass a few times........seriously, she did. (on a side note ladies, never hit a good man, or any man. It is one of the worst positions you could ever put a man in. He won't hit back, can't defend himself, and knows that one wrong move on his part will lead to a life altering event.........but yet the woman just keeps on hitting. It is just wrong) But I took the easy way out. I just said "yes dear", knowing that within a few days Marcelle would hit the trail, and that other side of me would crawl out from the depths of my own natural instincts. I would return to Life #2 - The Epic Worthlessness that is Man......................I'm going to have some fun with that one. Stay tuned
“When a man cannot chose, he ceases to be a man.”
~Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange~
See ya on the rivah....................with blue lips, icicles in my beard, and a thin line between determined and just plain crazy . PEACE
To find out just how worthless man can be, click here...........The Epic Worthlessness That is Man
