Focus50
Posts: 3962
Joined: 12/28/2004 From: Newcastle, Australia Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Rochsub2009 quote:
ORIGINAL: VaguelyCurious it's better not to have a honey-do list at all, but just...fix stuff when it breaks, whoever notices it first. If I lived with someone who called an electrician every time a fuse needed changing or a plumber every time there was a sink blockage I'd be creeped out Well I did say that I can do minor repairs. Anybody can change a fuse or pour some Drano down a sink. I was talking about REAL repairs. I can't do those. As a case in point, I was once engaged to a woman whose father had added 3 rooms to their house by hand. He did all of the carpentry, brick work, plumbing, and electrical work himself. He also fixed cars, and repaired any appliances that broke around the house. So when her car broke down on the road one time, she called me to come fix it. Well, I came and picked her up and had had a tow truck take her car to a mechanic. That turned into a big fight, because in her mind, a man is supposed to be able to fix cars. She wanted me to be her big strong hero and fix the car myself. Our different perspectives on what men should do was a constant point of contention for us. She couldn't understand why I couldn't build an addition to the house like her dad had done. I couldn't understand why she wasn't content with what I could do. I had an engineering degree, and an MBA from a top school. I was an executive at a large company, and I took her on overseas vacations several times per year. I wanted her to be proud of what I had achieved, and the lifestyle that I provided for her. Instead, she beat me up for paying contractors to build a deck in our back yard rather than building it myself like her dad would have done. So as you might guess, this issue struck a sensitive nerve for me. If you're ex-fiance couldn't accept you for being you, then I'd say good riddance; that you were incompatible.... And geeeezus, it's not like you weren't a good provider - another oldstyle "manly trait". But you still did LafayetteLady's post a certain injustice. That she's right, there are home chores better suited to individual genders. Me, I stay out of the kitchen and the girl won't be climbing ladders, doing heavy lifting, crawling under a car or in a crawl-space or even mowing the lawn. I do any building and most of the painting etc, too. In short and in my relationships in general, I mostly look after the house/yard while she looks after the home. Back in the emasculating 90's, men were always copping flak for not helping out in the house - cleaning, washing dishes etc. The popular stereotype was that we just lobbed home from the office (the only respectable form of work, apparently), grabbed a beer and sat on the couch waiting for our meals to be served. Riiiiiiight.... Focus.
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Never underestimate the persuasive power of stupid people in large groups. <unknown> Your food is for eating, not torturing. <my mum> (Errm, when I was a kid)
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