I know she does not look great here and now, but I can attest that she does clean up nicely.

 

The book For Women Only tackles, no let me take that back, gingerly touches on a fragile topic.... feminine upkeep.

At the risk of offending people on both sides of the gender divide, let me try to convey in 222 words what Shaunti Feldhaun delicately addresses in 22 tactful pages.

Having interviewed over a thousand men, the author finds seven startling threads of the male experience that surprised her. They surprised me.

 

One is about how a man feels when his wife cares about her appearance. We are on very thin ice here, folks, and the water beneath is near freezing, so no stomping. Remember that I am attempting to convey third generation information, and that it never really translated into words adequately in the first place. The men she was trying to listen to, said in the softest voice possible, that they felt loved when their wives took the time to take care of themselves physically, and felt unloved when they did not. Your alarms are already going off, which causes those boys to bolt and plead the fifth. So try to stay calm, and keep breathing. The point, they hasten to emphasize, is not that their wives look like they did Before Children. It is that they dress in something besides painting sweats, and remember what a gift their physical beauty is to their very visual husbands. 

 

John shuns adultery, for which I am thankful. I want him to do it every day, including weekends, and no vacations. If my willingness to bring a shaft of comeliness into his life adds momentum to that effort, let the sprucing begin with me.

Married Love 56

 

Photo by Chara Odhner

www.caringformarriage.org