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"What annoys me to no end about Rex is his extreme maleness. &amp;quot;Cars... motors...big tree trunks to blow to smithereens with my manly ax. Kapow! Dude - look at the chips fly!&amp;quot; What also turns me on to no end is his extreme maleness: Capable hands under the hood of a car that will no doubt land under my hoodie at some point. And the big pile of wood we now have in our backyard? Well... need I make another analogy with that one? This weekend I was once again reminded how much I appreciate Rex&amp;#039;s boyish charms. Oh sure, those same traits are the reason he sometimes forgets to send a card or flowers. But this Saturday he fixed the broken water heater outside and the leaky filter in our fridge. Those tires in my car that needed pumping? He was on it. And all that &amp;quot;know how / can-do&amp;quot; male confidence just makes me want to jump on him. In fact, I did. Several times. This might sound very unfeminist (and I&amp;#039;m hardly the helpless female) but when I stop fighting my husband and support his &amp;quot;dude within&amp;quot; it&amp;#039;s a major turn on. When we both work with our gifts, by golly, it works! On Sunday a friend reminded me just how different some women feel about this subject. As Rex was putting the last bag of sand into a hole he had dug out in their yard, he said, &amp;quot;Andrea, why don&amp;#039;t you get the kids in the car? I&amp;#039;ll be ready in five...&amp;quot; Sounded good to me. As I got up to collect the rug rats, she sighed, &amp;quot;See, this is the stuff that Alex pulls on me all the time.&amp;quot; Me: &amp;quot;What stuff?&amp;quot; Linda: &amp;quot;You know... the &amp;#039;Get the kids in the car&amp;#039; comment... I mean, why can&amp;#039;t he just do it himself?&amp;quot; I was flabbergasted. &amp;quot;But he&amp;#039;s been working in the yard all day. What&amp;#039;s the big deal?&amp;#039;&amp;quot; We could have debated heartily on the, &amp;quot;Whose role is it to do what&amp;quot; deal, but we didn&amp;#039;t. Two viewpoints, two ways of living out a marriage. It&amp;#039;s such a personal decision. But it did get me thinking: Is our generation of women wanting so much from our husbands that we forget the peace and safety that comes from actually nurturing them? I mean, what is wrong with sometimes letting the guy be the guy and you be the girl and sticking to defined roles - whatever those roles are that work for you? To be clear, I&amp;#039;m not saying that all women have to be little stepford wives at home with the kids while the man makes the living. Lord knows I write a sex column so I&amp;#039;d be kicked out of that club! But does anyone out there see the merits of going out of their way to help out their husband so that they, too, can be supported and loved and do what they want to do most? Thoughts? * Photo of my manly man&amp;#039;s chopped wood. The picture of the manly man would have been nicer, but he&amp;#039;s shy. Sorry! "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/relationships/a22375/when-rex-sports-lots-of-wood/?src=shelter_footer>