Yesterday, Heather and I heard a man being really mean to his gorgeous wife. I said, “I’ll never understand why jerks end up with such beautiful wives.” Heather said, “Aw, thank you Jerry. That’s so sweet.”
I see this all too frequently. A wonderful woman marries a handsome man who seems to be “perfect”. May I remind you that there is nothing outside of God that is or ever was perfect. We all have sides of us that we hide from the person we’re involved with. I have certainly been a jerk at times, but I try not to be. For some reason, it’s easier as you get older.
I have broken a few hearts by displaying jerky behavior, and I’ve had my heart broken several times too. But I don’t think I was ever a jerk who would belittle or embarrass a lady in public. After the divorces I was very hardened and self protective. As a result, I broke up with women when things got troublesome.
It just wasn’t worth the effort because I was never going to marry again anyway. So if the relationship was complicated, I bailed. I know, I know and I don’t feel good about it. I’m not talking about times when she may have had a bad day and needed comfort. That was fine. I was genuinely concerned for her happiness.
But if things started to shift and I could detect a longing to take things to the next level, I broke it off immediately. I didn’t want a next level. I don’t understand why people need to move the relationship status forward if it’s great where it is. The next level can only mean there’s trouble ahead. “Danger, Will Robinson.”
I managed to remain single for thirteen years and was very happy. It afforded me the time to be a true workaholic. Run a business and own a business simultaneously, travel all over the country, work on some major motion pictures, have a TV show, etc. All things I wouldn’t have had time for if I had a serious relationship.
I was only sleeping a couple of hours a night anyway. The next level in a romance, to me meant saying so long. I purposely didn’t make time for one. And I consider myself fortunate that only a couple of them tried to kill me. My marriage now is going on 20 years and we still love and like each other. I guess I’m not a jerk after all.
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