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!