Two Little Words...and You've Got Yourself a Villian

First of all, I would like to say that I am writing this at work! This is an enormous accomplishment as my school system server usually bumps me off all websites/ email access that is not school related because they always think we're looking up porn! But here I am, without any site protector blocking me! YES!!

I've been meaning to blog about this for a while now, but I'm just getting around to it...mostly because I forgot about it and then I heard it again and knew it was time to share it with the world. I am hoping that men across the universe will read this blog, figure it out, and fix this problem. Surely, I'm not the ONLY woman hearing these ridiculous words.

Here's the thing...my father, who is just about THE most wonderful man in the world can tell me to take care when ever and where ever he wants. Frankly, he says it to me just about every Sunday before I leave to go home and begin my week. He also follows it up with "work hard and do your best" which he's told me every day since I was a little girl. Sometimes, he'll even text me really early in the morning with "WHADYB" which are the initials for that phrase. And yes, it's true, my father sends me texts messages...and they're really good...tell you about those later. My point is that he can tell me to "take care" and I know he truly means it. He honestly wants me to take care of myself. He wants to be sure that I am safe and sound and a happy person and he wants to hear about my adventures on the next Sunday dinner. Other men, however, are not allowed to ever tell me that.

The whole "take care" scenario began at the end of an eight year relationship that I had with this guy who I dated through out high school and college and when we were getting off the phone after breaking up, he actually uttered, "well, take care." Please tell me I'm not crazy. How do you go from emotionally, physically, mentally, spiritually giving so much of yourself to "well, take care." It is just about the most ridiculous, impersonal thing I've ever heard. So when this happened years and years ago, it became a complete joke with my girlfriends and I.

And apparently, men don't change much from 22 to 33 because after I told Bruno that I didn't think I should talk to him for a while, he said the dreaded words. You just can't say that to someone after you've been intimate. It's like a law. So I laughed about it for a while and didn't talk to him for about a month until we spoke last weekend (and don't any of you give me any grief about it either). And it happened again! For some stupid reason, I wasn't expecting it, but don't kid yourself, the "take care" comment came out! I was so stupefied that I didn't think fast enough to "take care" of the situation, but hear me now, the next time some dumb man tells me to "take care," I will boldly tell him, "Don't YOU tell Me to take care! YOU take care!"

And I know my mother says I'm picky (but for God's sake why shouldn't I be? If I'm going to spend the better part of my life with someone, he might as well be darn amazing). He better not have a last name like "Hefflefinker." He better not be shorter than I am...now there's an image. And he better not tell me to "take care."