Last weekend I stopped by my friend Brad's house to drop off some tools I borrowed from him. When I pulled up his brother-in-law, Martin, was stading out front talking on the phone, so I waved to him as I walked around to the back door. I talked to Brad for a few minutes, gave him the tools then headed back to my car.
Martin was just hanging up his phone as I was leaving so I waited for him for a second. As he got closer I could see he was having a rough morning, so I began the ball-breaking "Jesus man, rough night? You look like shit." He mostly just shrugged. Then I noticed there was a bump or cut on his forehead. "And what happened to your head, did you fall? You better lay off the sauce.". I've never seen Martin really drunk before, and certainly not fall-down drunk. By now Martin's sister (Brad's wife) was outside and put her hand on Martin's shoulder and said "He broke up with Kay last night." With that Martin walked down the sidewalk, crying, clutching his phone in one hand and his purse-size package of tissues in the other.
Let me give you the background on Martin and Kay. Martin is from the VA area, but Kay was living somewhere in the midwest when the two met. They did the long distance thing for a while and after six months Kay moved to DC and in with Martin. Things seemed to be going well, everyone liked Kay, and Martin seemed very happy. Apparently things were not going that well. Martin felt suffocated because Kay really did not make any friends here and completely depended on him for her social life. They discussed the issue and after four or five months nothing changed so Martin finally broke up with her.
This brings up three important topics. The first is, should two people live together before they get married? The second is, how long should they date before they move in together? The third is, should a man ever cry in public. I believe the answers are: probably, a while, and never.
I have never been married and never lived with a woman, but I do think it would be important to live together before marriage. There are so many things you don't know about a person until you share a bathroom. However, I think a lot of people jump into living together too fast, what is the rush?
As for the public crying, that's just never acceptable. Never.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
This is the first time I’ve commented on your blog. This great post attracted me, the list seems very complete to me. I like the point of “Take full ownership of your actions”. For me this is the base of all points. Our actions will make us to better or worse at living.
ReplyDeleteI've re-read what I wrote three times and I have no idea what you're talking about. What list? Where do I say "Take full ownership of your actions". I am very confused.
ReplyDelete