Cave men & the women who love them

Quite by accident today, I picked up a book called "The Proper Care & Feeding of Husbands" by Dr. Laura Schlessinger. (I was in search of something to read and it was the only unread book I could find on the bookshelf.) There was a quote on the first page that grabbed my attention. "As a man I can tell you our needs are pretty simple. We want to be fed,we want our kids mothered, and we want lovin'." -Vince. So I asked my husband his thoughts on the matter. "Yah, that pretty much sums it up."                                                                                                              
 The book went on to say that we, as women, tend to think men are much more complicated than they actually are. Feed them, love them,and most of all respect them and they'll offer you the moon and stars. This reminded me of a conversation I had nearly 12 yrs. ago. I had been married for about a yr at the time. An acquaintance said that she always cooked a good meal for her husband. If he was home at dinner time, they'd eat together. If not, he'd heat it up when he came home from work. Either way, her job was done. At the time, I was incredulous! I remember thinking that cooking for him was NOT my job. ( Yes, I was a slightly immature 21 yr. old at the time.)                                                         
 Fast forward a few years. Let me set the scene for you. At the end of a long day I had a crying baby in my arms and a toddler clinging to my legs... while trying to clean the kitchen. After dinner my husband comes over to give me a hug and a kiss, looks me in the eyes, and says "Thank you for always having a good meal waiting for me when I get home from work. I'm glad that after a day on my feet I don't have to come home and either prepare something for myself or raid the cereal cabinet. Before you, I was married to a crockpot." I was dumbfounded. I was merely doing another chore, a necessity of every day life... and he appreciated it. Well folks, I'm like a puppy... if you pat me on the head and tell me "good job" I'll jump through hoops to earn more praise.                                                                      So here we are, 12 yrs later, I still take the time to prepare dinner, with the occasional exception of fend for yourself night. I know all his favorite meals, and the ones he merely tolerates. If I want to make him feal like the king of the castle, or for a special occasion, I know to make lasagna, garlic bread, a nice salad, and a blueberry pie.                                                   As far as the other needs, I've got them pretty well covered. Mothering the kids? Yep, I make a point to be here when they're home from school, help them with homework, teach them to get along, & how to cook etc...   Respect? Yah, I'm pretty good at that by now. I've learned not to nag and how to allow him to be the head of the household. (Trust me, there needs to be a whole separate blog to cover this.) And in general treat him like a man and not one of the kids. And lovin'? I'm not one to kiss and tell so let's not go there. All I can say is we need to remove our husbands from the bottom of our "to do" list and make them a priority.                                    So ladies, lets let our men be men and accept that's the way they were created to be. Think caveman here... that basic.  Need shelter, food good, fire good, and a warm body goood.