Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Men are from . . . Venus?

In May my DH and I took a cruise to Bermuda. We had a great time and part of the fun was the onboard art auction. I wanted this embellished serigraph on wood. The woman in the painting has an impish, almost elvish look about her. She's definitely up to something. There seemed to be a lot of emotional content. I thought she'd be interesting to look at and build a backstory about.

My DH wanted this lithograph on silk of . . . a boat. Ok, the way the artist handled representing the water is mildly intriguing, but it's just a boat. It doesn't make me feel anything. Where's the emotional content?

My DH said, "Suppose a guy rowed his girl out on a moonlit evening in the boat? What if a kid went fishing with his granddad in it? What if a guy built the boat while he mourned someone? Is there emotional content now?"

His imagination shamed me.

And it reminded me that men have just as many emotions as we women do. They just hold them in or express them in different, more concrete ways than we tend to. They may not be from Venus, but their planet is much closer to ours than I suspected.

Oh, and just in case you're wondering, we bought both art pieces.

Has the guy in your life surprised you lately? Please share.

Quick note: Voting for my STROKE OF GENIUS Name A Character Contest is going hot and heavy. Be sure to cast your vote for the best name! You might win a whole box of beachreads!

5 comments:

Heather D said...

The art is lovely. The lady has a Mona Lisa appeal to her. I have to agree with your husband on the boat lithograph. The water is definitely a lovely part of it, but my thought process was along the same lines when I saw it. I love empty boats, you can make your own little story around the places its been and what it has seen. So I guess you are right Mars is a little closer to Venus than we would suspect.

Jane L said...

Emily, both pictures are very lovely. My husband surprises seem to come in waves, some good, some not so good, but we spent the weekend in New Orleans over the fourth and he bought me a Christmas ornament, now I know this sounds simple, but see I collect them from places I go to and when I was there it never crossed my mind, so when we returned to our hotel he took out this little gold ornament, it was so precious. He was beaming with excitement, like a little boy with a surprise! I was so touched, first he remembered and second, he knew how disappointed I would have been when I realized I did'nt buy one myself. So it is the little things that make my heart just love him more and more!

Phyllis Campbell said...

Emily, I want to be you someday. You go to the best places!!!

~Phyllis~

Patricia Barraclough said...

My husband always has been an insightful person. The longer we are together, the more we think alike or at least know how the other one thinks. Not really all that unusual after 37 years. He still surprises me, but lately it is because he doesn't do what I expect him to. You looked at your picture, liked it and immediately started giving it it's story. You weren't interested in the other one and saw only a boat. Your husband was interested and gave it some thought. Had the boat picture been by itself, I suspect you would have looked at it and started wondering about it's story.

EmilyBryan said...

Heather--I'm sure I'll love the boat once it gets here. We were able to take the lady off the boat with it because it was the last one they had. The boat needed a new frame, so I'm looking for it any time now.

Jane==How sweet of your hubby!

Phyllis--I am a lucky girl and I know it.

Patricia==I so know what you mean. My DH and I often have the same idea (This usually involves calling for pizza on Friday night!) We like to say we're "bonded" when that happens.