The Myth of the Perfect Man

by Kerry Schafer 

 Really, I think this picture says it all. I'd like to give credit to whoever it belongs to, but the thing is all over the 'net and I can't trace its origin. The perfect man is a myth, wandering out there somewhere with Bigfoot. (Actually, I believe it's just possible Bigfoot might be out there. The Perfect Man? No way). If there was such a beast as The Perfect Man, I'm sure I wouldn't want anything to do with him. I'd be intimidated and overwhelmed at first, and then I think I would just get bored. Maybe this is because I am not a perfect woman, and there is no hope of me ever becoming one. One of the best pieces of relationship advice my mother ever gave me was to find somebody whose faults I could live with. And, by extension, somebody who can live with mine. And I suppose there is a sort of perfection in this - the perfect match. The Viking and I are opposites on a lot of scales. If we'd gone to something like eHarmony as our online dating site of choice, I'm sure it would never have introduced us to each other. Our interests, our tastes, our ways of looking at the world are wildly different. I like it that way. The things that really matter - our love of the land, our sense of home, our belief that a relationship is a partnership above all else - these things make us perfect for each other. That, and the fact that he loves me as I am and doesn't feel the need to change me.