Men And Women

A while back, one of the blogs I read mentioned a book, For Women Only. On a whim, I reserved it from the library and read it over the course of two sittings. All I can say is, WOW. Let me warn you: it's written by a Christian woman who holds Biblically-inspired ideals of what a wife should be. Having said that, let me also tell you that even if you disdain the kinds of images that statement may bring up, you're still apt to learn a lot from this book. I don't consider myself a feminist, but neither am I willing to let anyone, including (and maybe especially) my husband, walk over me in any way. I've gotten worse and worse about that as the years go by. Reading this book opened my eyes to the fact that the kind of person that has made me is exactly the kind that undermines her husband's self-image and makes life very difficult for him. I've felt for a while now that there is some distance between us emotionally. I attributed it to the whole journey of trying to conceive another child and all the bumps along the way. Now I'm revisiting it and seeing that it really has nothing to do with my quest for another child and everything to do with how I treat my husband.

I won't try to summarize the book or anything. Just, if you have a spare hour or two, give it a try. It's a light and easy read. But I think a lot of the principals contained in it will give you food for a lot of future thought. There's a companion book For Men Only. I've reserved that one too and I plan to read it before giving it to J. I also plan to suggest he read the woman's book and tell me if it's way off track. But I fear that his response will be that it hits pretty close to home.