Call me a modern day woman or (more likely) correctly identifying my Love Language but I am struck by a song a just heard on the radio which prompted a conversation with my roommate about what I'd want from "my man".
I was listening to Bruno Mars' song, "If I was Your Man" and felt a little funny about it because the chorus goes: "Well, I should've bought you flowers and held your hand. Should've given you all my hours, when I had the chance. Taken you to every party, because I know how you like to dance."
Now, I'm not one to argue with the wisdom of pop music now-a-days (especially since the 2012 hit, "Instagram that Hoe" came out) BUT I do believe women are expecting more from their significant others than 1) flowers 2) hand holding and 3) dancing. I mean, are we that simple?
This conversation pushed my roommate to ask me, "well, Katie, if he was your man, what would he be singing?"
Never one to shy away from an interesting and slightly silly hypothetical, here is my answer:
If he was my man, he would ---- offer me an honest, loving relationship based on equality; give me hugs even when I'm PMS-ing, eating a pint of ice cream on the couch and have a nice dot-to-dot of zits on my chin; let me have time with my friends but smile when I text him periodically throughout the night; love watching football with me; put away my clean laundry for me out of the blue one day because he knows I hate doing it; ask me about my day; want to meet my family and friends and join in on their crazy banter; dance when he wants to; laugh when he can and cry when he feels like it; compete against me in trivia and not judge me when I know nothing about our country's history prior to 1942; let me take care of him and most importantly, make me a mix tape*.
Flowers can be bought at a store anywhere, heck even the street vender sells them right by my apartment and sure, diamonds are shiny but a mix tape, now there is something from the heart. Think about it, he picks songs specifically that remind him of you and the relationship you share. He's put in a few hours to pick which ones are perfect, sprinkling in a few silly songs like "Make Love in This Club" by Usher or "Can't Get Enough of Your Love" by Barry White and conclude the tape with the song that will surly epitomize your relationship together. It's that simple and dare I say it, that cheap. Just get me something thoughtful, something that means a lot to you and I'll be happy. That's the secret, that's the key...not dancing, not flowers, not hand holding; just a mix tape.
*To modernize it a bit, a mixed tape can be replaced with a compact disc. :)
