Cousins rock

I grew up within easy distance of several of my cousins. Five of us saw each other on a weekly basis as we all went to the same church. Last night, my one of my cousins, Carl, took me out to dinner. We have established a routine. We go out for dinner, and then we come back to my apartment for tea (which I serve in my tea pot with matching cups and saucers).

Anyway, you don’t know how much people are watching out for you until you run into your neighbors. Paul and Cyndi live down the hall, and Paul is retired Army. We ran into Paul yesterday evening as we were returning for our tea. And I introduced them, we chatted for a few minutes, and then Paul left and Carl and I had our tea.

“Who was that?” asked Carl. So, I explained that Paul and Cyndi have been kind to me the last several months. “Does Josh know?” And I explained that Josh had met them and also found them very kind neighbors who have provided us with a lot of useful information. And so, because Josh approved, so did Carl.

Some people find this kind of intrusion as domineering. I don’t. It is women who do not have this kind of protection that end up in trouble. Carl trusts my judgment of character, but he doesn’t want me to get hurt and knows that I’m in a vulnerable position.

Moral of the story is: women, most men who show this type of concern are not trying to control you. They just worry about you and want to show that they love you. This is not anti-feminist, rather an honest acknowledgement of what the world is like.

I love Carl, too.