Mr. Right and Jane

Lately I have felt a little like I was living in a Jane Austen novel. Maybe it is because I am working my way thru her complete works, or maybe because I am of an age when women want to get married. It's a bit like asking which came first--the chicken or the egg. Either way- here I am, watching Colin Firth play Mr. Darcy on PBS and finding myself re-evaluating my past relationships, my current prospects, and my views on dating, mating, and the world.

One of my co-workers tells me I will have a much harder time meeting nice men if I continue to read femisist literature, another tells me I should read all the feministing I want, and the right man will come. I think reality is somewhere in between. There is some truth in the statement 'men want to be needed just as women need to be wanted'.

I have met plenty of men who wanted me to need them, and few who wanted me too, but never one in the same. Over the last 10 years I have dated artists, designers, scholars, sales clerks, actors, and even a guy who worked in porn. All were Mr. Right, just for some other Jane.

Jane Austen had it right when she wrote "Interested people have perhaps misrepresented each to the other. It is, in short, impossible for us to conjecture the causes of circumstances which may have alientated them, without actual blame on either side." Sometimes it is good to remember this truth. It is also good to remember that your value as a human being is in no way connected to your marital status.

Mr. Right will come along, and hopefully he will like both Jane Austen and Bust magazine. Just as I like feminist literature and men.

I hope you all had a happy Valentine's Day. I know I did, and I didn't even have to kiss a boy to have a good time.

xoxoxox