Saw this article in the Deseret News this morning, it put a huge smile on my face. Enjoy!
Does Dr. Laura know what MEN want? (Apparently so…)
This week my article “Does Dr. Laura know what women want?” was published. In it, I discuss a caller who vented his feelings to Dr. Laura about his wife who he thought had “let herself go.”
I was disgusted and annoyed that he would put that kind of pressure on his wife to look perfect, and exaggerated my point.
I have a confession to make:
I hadn’t yet finished the book.
After submitting the column and feeling witty, I went back to the book for a quick “crunch time” speed-read to finish before book club next week.
The more I read, the more I began to realize the point Dr. Laura was trying to make. One sentence in particular shot out at me like a firework in the sky:
“No, I probably will not be writing about the care and feeding of wives”-gulp!-“Why? Because the truth is that when it comes to home and relationships, women rule. This is a book about how to rule wisely and lovingly.”
I was floored. First off, How did Dr. Laura know EXACTLY what I was thinking?! Second, I had never thought of my relationship with my husband as one of us women having more “power.” But the more I pondered this idea, the more sense it made: in that we woman actually do have the “power” to SET THE MOOD of the relationship. You know that quote, “Happy wife, happy life”? It’s true. If we are positively reinforcing, kind, thoughtful, warm, giving, nurturing, all those “feminine” things that are already innate in us women, our men will slay dragons and climb any mountain. Men grow up wanting and needing the love and nurture of their mothers, and spend the rest of their lives wanting and needing that from their wives.
Case in point: last weekend I was up in Logan speaking to a group of girls for Deseret Book’s “Time Out for Girls.” It was a tough first night, and as I walked into my little hotel room close to midnight with a cranky baby and a heavily-weighted stroller, the thought of waking in a few short hours and doing it all over again was almost too overwhelming.
I called my husband and expressed my feelings and concerns. He was reassuring, as usual, and told me he loved me and to get some rest.
The next evening after a much more successful-if still a little stressful-yet most fulfilling day, I came home to the most amazing of surprises, the ultimate “I love you, I want you to be happy” gift in my eyes:
A completely, perfectly, spotless home.
My husband had not only deep-cleaned, vacuumed, picked-up, and polished our house, but he tackled the most dreadful of tasks: cleaning out the closet. He organized, arranged, stacked and DI-ed that sucker to a “T”. The sweaters were stacked. The skirts were hung. The socks were sorted. No more flinging pants up on a shelf and quickly covering your head in case of a bad aim-nope, they were department-store displayed, all facing the same direction in little, neat piles.
People, even the underneaths were folded.
I tell you what, every worry, doubt, stress, fear and frustration flew right out the window. I even took a picture of me staring at the shelves with a look of pure ecstasy.
